This week I accompanied a few friends to Starbucks in order to get some studying and homework done for finals week. Usually I hate Starbucks and coffee, but I recalled that they always have music playing so it might be a place where I could observe how people interacted with the music there. I did not tell my friends that I would be working on this assignment, so I was able to casually comment on the atmosphere and how the music was involved with the environment, thus they were able to give me feedback on the questions I asked them without knowing my ulterior motives.
To begin, Starbucks usually has a 'coffee shop indie' playlist constantly being played and curated by someone at corporate I am assuming. The songs are mostly just indie vocalists with acoustic guitars and covers of more upbeat songs which have now just been turned into acoustic, slowed-down renditions. It's always very quiet in Starbucks, so it was very easy to be able to hear the music in the background, even as my friends stood in line and ordered their beverages of choice. We finally sat down and since the majority of the other customers were students there studying the entire store was very quiet. The music wasn't super loud, but it was loud enough to recognize the words the artists were singing and for me to identify some songs that I was familiar with and had heard before.
They played very laid back songs from artists like Angus and Julia Stone, Death Cab for Cutie and other very mellow indie bands. A lot of coffee shops I have been to play jazz and classical music over 'chill indie' I have noticed however. I think that vocalless jazz and classical are easier to study to and curate a better environment for focusing, just because music that contains vocals tends to distract me when I am trying to concentrate. All of the music is fairly up to date and recent, so I am assuming they continually curate the playlist with newly released songs....
