Background Music in a Coworking Space

Call me a contrarian, but I like quiet, or at least conversation as background noise. I don’t think I’d rent space in an office with background music. That’s for elevators and dentists offices.

Miles Fidelman

I’d have to agree. This way people can choose to listen to music via own headphones. We already have plenty of background chatter to create that buzz.

Jerome

www.BLANKSPACES.com

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On Aug 14, 2012, at 9:14 AM, Miles Fidelman [email protected] wrote:

Call me a contrarian, but I like quiet, or at least conversation as background noise. I don’t think I’d rent space in an office with background music. That’s for elevators and dentists offices.

Miles Fidelman

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Same at our Enterprise Hubs Miles - think members would ‘walk’(not dance)!

Fay

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From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Miles Fidelman
Sent: 14 August 2012 17:15
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Coworking] Re: Background Music in a Coworking Space

Call me a contrarian, but I like quiet, or at least conversation as background noise. I don’t think I’d rent space in an office with background music. That’s for elevators and dentists offices.

Miles Fidelman


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Most people in my office end up listening to music on their headphones but they they all kinda zone out of the community, some music playing lightly in the background, just enough to stimulate some conversation but not enough to distract me.

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On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 12:14 PM, Miles Fidelman [email protected] wrote:

Call me a contrarian, but I like quiet, or at least conversation as background noise. I don’t think I’d rent space in an office with background music. That’s for elevators and dentists offices.

Miles Fidelman

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To be honest, we've had one member openly say "I need absolute quiet in my office" and that member doesn't come in as often now, however the majority of our members said they preferred background music and so we opted for it. Also, when new people now come in for tours they see the music there, so people don't signup if its something they don't want in the space.

When people want to focus or phase out, they just "plug in" as normal and listen to their own thing.

- Liam

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On 14 Aug 2012, at 17:16, "Fay Easton" <[email protected]> wrote:

Same at our Enterprise Hubs Miles - think members would ‘walk’(not dance)!
Fay

From: cowo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:cowo...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Miles Fidelman
Sent: 14 August 2012 17:15
To: cowo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Coworking] Re: Background Music in a Coworking Space

Call me a contrarian, but I like quiet, or at least conversation as background noise. I don't think I'd rent space in an office with background music. That's for elevators and dentists offices.

Miles Fidelman
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Most people end up using their own music but it encourages people to talk. We noticed before we added music, people whispered or were afraid to talk much in the main area. The music helps make it more obvious, that noise is ok.

Certainly a too each their own. We keep ours loud enough to hear but not so loud your own music would be drowned out.

John Wilker

Founder, 360|Conferences | Partner, Uncubed

(720) 381-2370

twitter: jwilker

johnwilker.com | 360|MacDev | 360|Stack | 360|iDev

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On Tuesday, August 14, 2012 at 10:20 AM, Matthew Arkin wrote:

Most people in my office end up listening to music on their headphones but they they all kinda zone out of the community, some music playing lightly in the background, just enough to stimulate some conversation but not enough to distract me.

On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 12:14 PM, Miles Fidelman [email protected] wrote:

Call me a contrarian, but I like quiet, or at least conversation as background noise. I don’t think I’d rent space in an office with background music. That’s for elevators and dentists offices.

Miles Fidelman

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yes, similar things happened for us, everybody was soldered to their
headsets and earplugs to be able to focus

one day the speakers ended up on the new standing desk and nobody in
that room said anything about the speakers being plugged. the volume
is not loud, and when someone wants to focus that person generally get
the headset out, go to another room or we all switch to headsets.

in the end, the speakers did help making talks and communication
easier avoiding the "locked away" effect,

as usual proceed with community approval / talks I suppose

TR

···

On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 6:20 PM, Matthew Arkin <[email protected]> wrote:

Most people in my office end up listening to music on their headphones but
they they all kinda zone out of the community, some music playing lightly in
the background, just enough to stimulate some conversation but not enough to
distract me.

On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 12:14 PM, Miles Fidelman > <[email protected]> wrote:

Call me a contrarian, but I like quiet, or at least conversation as
background noise. I don't think I'd rent space in an office with background
music. That's for elevators and dentists offices.

Miles Fidelman

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Thomas Riboulet
+33 (0) 698 926 057

At Collective Agency we’ve developed some guidelines for what works for us. The measurable goals I look at for playing music is:

  • to maximize the number of people who choose to not wear headphones, and

  • to maximize the number of people who say they enjoy the music a lot and that it helps them focus.

Music that works for what our members expect:

  • music without words in English (other than Christmastime or Ella Fitzgerald-era jazz). If people understand words, it’s distracting. World music with other languages works well too.

  • music without a strong bass.

  • our defaults are jazz and classical radio stations.

  • we have some members who change the stations (very rarely, a couple times a week total) if they don’t like the song that’s playing.

  • There’s a sheet on top of the stereo with these guidelines on it, so people know how music is chosen.

For volume, there’s a very specific range where it’s not loud enough to be distracting, and not quiet enough where most people have to strain to hear it. Radio stations tend to moderate the songs to a pretty tight volume range. Having music on within that range when someone new walks in definitely increases the percent of people who sign up and become members here, compared with when music is too quiet or not on.

My main joy from having music on is because it leads to smoothing out the sound in the main room, for more conversations spoken in normal voices, and because all that leads to more people signing up.

Alex

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Alex Linsker

Collective Agency’s Community Organizer / Proprietor

(503) 517-6900 http://collectiveagency.co

Tax and Conversation’s Statewide Community Organizer

(503) 517-6904 taxandconversation.com

(503) 369-9174 mobile (503) 517-6901 fax

322 NW Sixth Ave, Suite 200, Portland, Oregon 97209