What Music To Play In A Boutique

I am writing this post as when I was trying to give my boss ideas for music to play in our shop there was no help anywhere online.

Obviously this will all vary depending on the type of clothing you sell, and who your target market is. Your not exactly going to blast Britney Spears in a mens Suit shop are you?

You also need to into account your staff. They are the people who will be in the shop all day listening to this music. Don’t have anything too depressing or slow. This will make them tired and gloomy and ultimately not perform to the best of their abilities.

For example we stock high end clothing by some of Australias best designers as well as top American/French/English brands. Our demographic ranges from 16 to 60. But mostly the 20/30’s age group comes in most. My boss had a lot of Tori Amos playing, Sound Of Music Soundtrack, Robert Plant and Allison Krause etc. While these are great artists/albums, they’re  not the most suitable for productivity. A few of these actually wanted to make me run out of the door screaming. Even the Rihanna CDs we had. After a while you can’t listen to it anymore. My last job before this played the same cds for the whole 3 years I was there. Torture. Girl From Ipa Nema anyone? And I can only listen to R.E.M., U2 and the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack so many times.

I had suggested we play soundtracks from shows like Gossip Girl, The OC, Sex and The City and movies such as Catch & Release and A Lot Like Love or even The Devil Wears Prada. Varied mix of artists and not all of the songs are highly recogniseable. I had also asked a firend of mine who knows of lots of Indie bands what would work. She suggested The Jezzabells, The Wombats, Band Of Horses, Birds of Tokyo and the like. I even suggested Little Boots, Ellie Goulding, Anya Marina and Anjulie. Only one song from from Anya Marina & Anjulie were selected. That was it. The rest was more depressing music.

Well we have now had a change of management and a new location. I now put on my own music since I’m the only one who works in here. Obviously a lot of my music isn’t going to be suitable but I have done several playlists with some good tunes. (I always used to love making up mix cds for friends parties and work).

Also please keep in mind not to have the music blasting in your shop. Customers will walk in then walk straight out as they can’t hear their freinds talking or hear themselves think. But don’t have it too soft either, otherwise awkward silences will feel a million times worse. Here are some examples of what you can use.

Mix consisting of several 80’s/90’s music mixed with a few from now.

For eg: La Bouche, Rea McCoy, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Bjork, Flo Rida, Ellie Goulding, Placebo, Little Boots, Lauryn Hill, She & Him, Glee, Christina Aguilera, Usher, Britnet Spears, Bachelor Girl, Mandy Moore, Whitney Houston, Band Of Horses, All American Rejects, 30 Secods To Mars, Maroon 5, Red Hot Chilli Peppers,  Kanye West, Jay Z, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Kat Graham, LMFAO, Regina Spektor, Republica, Florence and The Machine, Adele, Bruno Mars, Eminem, D’Angelo, Lady Antebellum, Leanne Rimes, Crystal Waters, C+C Music Factory, The Cranberries.

Obvously with ra songs don’t get one that has a lot or any swearing.

For some easy listening I made a playlist of Adele, Florence And The Machine and Robert Plant with Allison Krause.

Something a little folky I put together a playlist of Mady Moore’s albums Wild Hope and Amanda Leigh with some cool cover songs from her album Coverage.

If  you need some pep in your step in the morning put on some Glee mixes. Nothing too sexual or too slow and heartbreaking.

I also have a cool selection of soundtracks like 500 Days Of Summer, Almost Famous, The OC, Catch And Release, A Lot Like Love, Charmed, Buffy, The Vampire Diaries, Cruel Intentions etc. These cds have some amazing songs on them.

Even if you go through episodes of your favourite shows and get the track list for that ep and get the  from Itunes and make your own soundtrack. I find that The Vampure Diaries has some great music used throughout. As does Supernatural however it’s a bit more 70’s/80’s rock orientated.  

As I stated earlier it does depnd on your clientel and your product. If your clothes are aimed at going out to clubs and parties then play some wicked dance music. Basically that’s the top 40 now. If your clientel is older maybe play some Tony Bennett, Rod Stewart, Michael Buble, and some Jazz.

A kids store I find iffy territory. They like a lot of the latest music out like Katy Perry and Lady Gaga, but it’s not totally appropriate for a kids clothing store. I would think more Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez and The Scene, or the band that Nick Jonas formed. That type of thing.

I hope this post helps you if you are in a similar situation. I know I would have appreciated this when I was looking for music for the shop. I do sometimes post what music is playing in the shop at the moment on my twitter feed.

As I finish writting this article P.Diddy feat Christina Aguilera’s song ‘Tell Me’ from his ‘Press Play’ album is playing.