Achi news desk-
It’s happened again: Before you can say a word, the person or machine who answered the phone at the doctor’s office/tech support/airline/customer service center puts you on hold and the music starts playing.
In some cases, it’s a local radio station. Other times, it’s something terribly innocent, generic and mildly annoying. And I swear those companies that play the same simple tune over and over and over do it so you just give up and walk away. (Apple tech support is a little different. The last time I called for help, the prompts gave me a choice of what kind of music I could listen to while on hold, but that’s unusual.)
The main purpose of Music on Hold is simple. If you hear the music, you know you’re still online and somewhere in line. But it wasn’t always like that. Who came up with the idea of ​​music on hold?
His name was Alfred Levy. Back in 1962, he had a factory and had problems with the phone lines going into the building. Somewhere in the system, a loose wire touched a metal beam, turning the entire structure into a giant radio antenna that happened to be tuned to the frequency of a local radio station. This meant that every time someone answered the phone, music leaked. This was especially noticeable when callers were put on hold.
Levy was annoyed at first but then realized that it wasn’t such a bad thing after all. It kept the callers busy and let them know they were still connected.
In 1966, he filed a patent for a machine, the “telephone waiting system,” that automatically played music for callers whenever they were put on hold. Every standby telephone in use today is based on this patent. It doesn’t matter if it’s harmless pre-recorded instrumental material or a radio station.
It has revolutionized customer interactions. I once saw the results of a study that said at least 70 percent of customers subjected to deathly silence while on hold will hang up in disgust and frustration within 60 seconds, simply because they feel they have been hung up on or are being ignored and disrespected. Playing them music – even bad music – is much better than the old way of signaling an active connection, which was usually a beep every 30 seconds or so. Today, most commercial telephone line systems come with an “MOH” input. It stands for “music on hold”.
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After music on hold became common, things escalated in strange directions. In 1989, a 16-year-old Yanni-loving computer geek named Tim Carlton and his friend, Derek Deal, recorded a six-minute piece on a four-track machine in Carlton’s parents’ garage. It was eligible Opus number one and integrated into the phone a system built by Cisco (then a start-up) called Call Manager. This made Carlton and Deal music stars in the making.
If you’ve been on hold at any time in the last 35 years, I guarantee you’ve heard it because for the longest time, it was the only appropriate music for Cisco phone systems. It was even used by Bud Light for a 2023 Super Bowl commercial.
However, there is still a lot of work to be done, as companies and governments still do not understand this. Cisco finally realized that their phone systems needed more options than Opus number one. The UK Department for Work and Pensions played a 30 second loop of Vivaldi four Seasons for years before it was changed, citing complaints from the public that such repetition causes anxiety and is especially disturbing to autistic callers.
You can’t just use music. If it is popular music that is copyrighted, the owners of the business with the phone system are required by law to pay royalties. Years ago, Bruce Springsteen called a motorcycle shop only to wait and immediately heard his born to run. When someone finally answered, his question was, “Did you get a license for this?” And if you license music, you have to be careful. Top 40 Pop is good for callers 25 and under, but tends to alienate older customers. Additionally, familiar songs may result in a longer wait because we have a good idea of ​​how long those songs really are.
There are many companies today that specialize in music on hold. They emphasize the need for music that is neither too sleepy nor too loud. Tempo and melody are important. Music on hold should be happy, both musically and lyrically (except in the case of funeral homes; this is inappropriate). It’s important to diversify, switch from clips of different styles, lengths and genres (except for jazz – studies have shown that this should be avoided because it causes too many people to disconnect).
Prediction in music is death. This is especially important if callers may be subject to a hold of 10 minutes or more. (I can’t imagine the mindset of an Adelaide, Australia man who was left on hold with Qantas for 15 hours in 2012. That’s a lot of music on hold.) A message should pop up occasionally, reassuring the caller that “your call is important to us”. It’s annoying, but it works.
Finally, businesses need to understand that whatever music on hold they choose, it needs to work well with the limited frequency response of phone lines. Using material that simply doesn’t translate down the phone line will drive customers crazy.
The music business on hold is bigger than you think. There is a trade group, The On-Hold Message Association, which now trades as OnHold.com, and even has conventions and awards programs for the best music on hold.
Meanwhile, in the real world, there is a community of music fans waiting. They collect YouTube videos like this
The best playlist of music on hold.
By the way, although Opus number one With hundreds of millions (billions?) of people listening while they waited, Carlton and Deal didn’t see a dime in royalties from their lineup. They wrote it, recorded it, submitted it, got paid for the work – and that’s it. I imagine they cringe when they call somewhere given their creation.
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