It’s been a tough year or so for all pubs, restaurants and retailers, but pubs have arguably had the biggest challenge in getting back to normal, and at a time where many are still announcing that their like-for-like yearly sales are down, those challenges still remain.

Music, and especially live music and gigs, were one of the very last elements to return to pubs, a vital part of the magical pub atmosphere. At one stage, regulations stipulated that people were not allowed to sing-along or dance in a group to music. Doesn’t sound much like fun, does it?

So, it is perhaps not surprising to see that significantly more pub-goers, in comparison to restaurant and shop goers, believe that the experience would have been better with music and the sound of people.

43.3% of pubs goers think the experience would have been better with the sound of music while 44% say it would have been better with the sound of people. The corresponding stats for restaurants are 28.1% (better with music), and 30.3% (better with sound of people), and for retail are 30.2% (better with music), and 24.9% (better with sound of people).

It should not be forgotten that music and atmosphere are vital ingredients to creating a great experience in restaurants and retail. And there is more to a great atmosphere than just the music played. Embracing the combined power of music and technology to shape behaviour is a smart and strategic way to engage customers, improve customer experience and stand out from the competition. That is what at Startle we call Music+.