Real Estate Music

New York Times
August 5, 2007
Selling a Concept With a Song
By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

NEVER mind your iPod music library, your zippy cellphone ring and your collection of 45-r.p.m. singles.

Has your condo got a song in its heart?

It seems every new condominium these days has its own tune, meant to convey its soul to potential buyers. At 151 Wooster Street (151wooster.com) in SoHo, it is a jazz track featuring a lone trumpet. Vigorous strings evoke Vivaldi at the Cielo (cielocondos.com) on the Upper East Side. Electronic music heralds 166 Perry Street (166perryst.com) in the West Village.

Developers are forever adding bells and whistles to distinguish their properties from all the others on the market. And as Web sites are increasingly being used as teasers to drive buyers (especially out-of-state and international buyers) into sales offices, many developers are going beyond slick graphics and literally orchestrating the journey.

Reports about classical music being played in public spaces to decrease crime or ease anxiety, as well as widely publicized studies from Muzak about music’s ability to increase efficiency and make people feel better, have led some developers and marketers to think music will make buyers more relaxed and engaged at their Web sites.

More significantly, by commissioning or licensing (or illegally using) music for their Web sites and sales offices, developers say they are better able to convey the vibe of a particular building, especially when that building is yet to exist. Music is also seen as an effective way to announce a building’s intended demographic without ever saying a word.

“Certain types of people generally have an affinity for one type of music more than another,” said Shaun Osher, the chief executive of CORE Group Marketing, which has worked on a number of music-infused campaigns.

This, of course, raises questions about exactly who is invited, so to speak, by which developments.

Musical themes are chosen for a number of reasons, including a building’s location, its history, the target demographic and the personality and preferences of the developer. “It has to reflect the aspirations and the intentions of this whole group of people who are involved — building architects, interior architects, contractors, developers, selling agents, designers,” said John Atwood of Atwood Design Systems, which has created Web sites for new developments, including Blue (bluecondonyc.com) on the Lower East Side and Artisan Lofts (artisanlofts.com) in TriBeCa.

Developers and marketers have no clearly defined rules about what music belongs with which building. In general, though, buildings that are downtown or have modern designs seem to be willing to try newer musical genres like electronica. Buildings with long histories or those that are not specifically aiming at young buyers often use classical. Jazz, with its myriad styles, tends to cross geographical and architectural boundaries.

So which buildings are trying to attract which kinds of buyers? And where — if anywhere — do you fit in?

“There are a bunch of different fantasies at play,” said Anahid Kassabian, the James and Constance Alsop chair of music at the University of Liverpool who studies and writes about the use of music in public spaces and in film.

For instance, she said, the world-lounge style of music being used to sell the Setai New York (setainy.com) and 75 Wall (75wall.com), both in the Financial District, taps into “a profound fantasy of cosmopolitanism” and “hipness.”

“It’s got a certain kind of rhythm and mixing,” Dr. Kassabian said. “There’s this global quality to it. It doesn’t just say, ‘Listen, this is Algerian rai pop.’ It says, ‘Oh look, this is somebody who sings in the rai style in a kind of global lounge setting.’ ”

The soundtrack on the Web site and in the sales center for the Setai is from Buddha-Bar, the restaurant chain that began as a Parisian hot spot.

“It had that Asian hip scene that translated well to the Setai,” said Kaley Pickett, project manager for the Marketing Directors Inc. A member of the building’s marketing team was familiar with the Buddha-Bar CDs, Ms. Pickett said, and the team thought that in addition to setting a tone for the building, the music (from CD Volumes 3 and 4) would also be soothing.

Jacqueline Urgo, the president of the Marketing Directors, defined the Setai’s target demographic as urban, progressive, wealthy and international. “They have the right job,” Ms. Urgo said. “The Setai Club is the right exclusive club to be at.”

But Ms. Pickett pointed out that “the music is a little more representative of the product, not as much the buyer.”

In the sales center for 101 Warren Street (101warren.com) in TriBeCa, visitors inquired about buying the lounge music (a compilation from the Hôtel Costes in Paris) that was being played, said Jasmine Mir, the senior vice president of the Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group.

Dr. Kassabian was not surprised.

“It’s like collecting African masks,” she said. “It puts the residents in a kind of circuit of hipness.”

The world-lounge music style is not for everyone, though. “I can’t imagine that very many people in their 60s are spoken to by that,” Dr. Kassabian said. “It’s a real sort of choice to do 30s and 40s. And the electronic stuff is even younger.”

The electronic music used for a modern building like 166 Perry Street, with its undulating glass facade, is a slightly subdued version of what one might hear in certain clubs in the early hours of the morning.

After listening to Perry Street’s Web site, Mark Spicer, an associate professor of music theory and popular-music studies at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, described it as “alien space,” trance and avant-garde. “This is supposed to sound futuristic,” he said, to jibe with the building’s modernity. “I can’t imagine that music appealing to old money.”

One of the Perry Street developers, Charles Blaichman, calls the music moody, cool and minimalist.

“Either you’re going to get that kind of architecture or you’re not,” Mr. Blaichman said. “We’re thinking the music on the Web site will either speak to that buyer or not. It’s not for everybody. Just like any building is not for everybody.”

The music for the majority of developments is not startling, brash or breathtaking. Rock music is rare. One building that comes closest to that genre is 246W17 (246w17.com) in Chelsea, where the music sounds like the B-52’s-meets-“Sesame Street.”

“We felt the B-52’s type of vibe — family, fun, upbeat — was perfect,” said Mr. Osher of CORE Group Marketing. The piece was written and produced for the building with the goal of having broad appeal and attracting people “who came from many different walks of life,” he said.

Mr. Blaichman, who also worked on 246 West 17th Street, said he originally wanted to use “Our House” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, but it was incredibly expensive. Instead, he had something produced that would convey a similar tone. “It’s light, it’s fun, it’s not that serious,” he said.

Dr. Spicer, without knowing the developer’s intentions, characterized the music as a generic American bar band rock groove. “It seems to be very inclusive,” he said. “This is definitely looking to be a more down-to-earth, everyman kind of complex, and the music fits that.” When it comes to one of the most often used genres — jazz — developers frequently choose cool jazz, probably because it is relaxed and inoffensive, said Bradley Brookshire, the director of graduate studies at the Conservatory of Music at the State University College at Purchase, N.Y. “It is a toned down celebration,” Dr. Brookshire said. “Like a wine-and-cheese party.”

Both classical and cool jazz offer a general appeal rather than a particular one, Dr. Kassabian said. “The classical does a kind of elitism, whereas cool jazz does a kind of relaxation,” she said. “They hit slightly differently.”

Classical music is piped into bus and train stations, she said, because “everybody knows you’re supposed to behave nicely in the presence of it.”

Elliott Ingerman, a partner in Tribeca Associates, the developer of Artisan Lofts, said the team had originally planned to use classical music in its marketing but ultimately created a piece inspired by “Take Five” by Dave Brubeck because it was just as sophisticated but more fun and a bit more “downtown” than classical. Another downtown building, 141 Fifth Avenue (141FifthAvenue.com) uses a more modern jazz piece by Wayne Shorter.

Linking a building with any sort of music runs the risk of alienating some buyers, particularly if the music is loud or repetitive, but for many marketers the benefits outweigh the pitfalls. In fact, the greater risk of using music on a Web site, Ms. Mir of Corcoran Sunshine said, is outing the scores of buyers who surreptitiously surf the sites at work. After all, no developer wants a potential buyer to click off its Web site for any reason.

“We would always include the on/off button,” Ms. Mir said, adding that some developers might not if they wanted tight control over the way the marketing message was being delivered.

Studies about the subliminal power of music to influence shoppers have led some marketers to think music can affect buyers, but many music scholars say quantitative studies are suspect. Even Muzak has become “less about science than about art,” said Bob Finigan, Muzak’s vice president for product and marketing. “Does it translate to more sales? Does it decrease perceived wait times in a bank line?” he said. “I would say absolutely. But to capture that in research is really, really a slippery slope.”

Most of the music that developers use is unidentifiable. Lyrics are not common. “They want music to be ‘not conscious,’ ” Dr. Kassabian said. “One of the ways you do that is making it not specifically recognizable.”

When the music is recognizable, it is often a veiled version of an iconic composition, which may or may not be legal. Acquiring rights to music is often a multistep process that may involve paying the many people involved, Mr. Atwood said.

In the end, buyers generally choose homes based on cost, location and architectural details, not whether the building is more Brahms than Bjork.

Sean Davis, the owner of Tosler Davis, a hair salon on lower Fifth Avenue and a resident of 246W17, gets a kick out of the Web site’s upbeat theme song and jolly cartoon residents, especially the ones with Vespas, because the motor scooter is his and his partner’s preferred mode of transportation. “We’re the people who are supposed to be in here,” he said and laughed.

In general, though, he dislikes music on Web sites because he finds it jarring or dated. It would not, he said, inspire him to buy in a particular building. “It’s part of the package in terms of seducing you,” Mr. Davis said. “But it comes down to the same things: square footage, views, light, finishes, a value for your money.”

Still, if you are feeling left out because your building does not have a theme song from a Parisian club or a jazz legend, do not despair. Once a new development is sold out, its musical Web site and sales center disappear. The needle is lifted from the record, and the building, like all the rest, silently pierces the sky.