Is Bing Crosby on the way out?
According to a recent survey of 1,543 Canadians, Boomers prefer traditional carols in their holiday music while shopping, but Gen Y and Millennial shoppers are more likely to want variety in their holiday music.
The survey, conducted this October, was sponsored by SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) and generally found holiday music to be a winning contributor to the seasonal shopping experience:
- Eighty-two percent said they enjoy listening to all kinds of holiday music while they shop.
- One-third said hearing holiday music — either in stores or on the radio — reminds them that it’s time to pick up gifts.
- Twenty nine percent (24 percent men, 34 percent women) admitted they have stayed in a store longer because of the music.
- Only 13 percent (15 percent men, 10 percent women) dislike all types of holiday music.
The data also showed tastes may be changing. Overall, about half (48 percent) of holiday shoppers prefer a mix of traditional and modern holiday music. Of those who show a preference for one type over the other, traditional holiday carols were still widely preferred over modern holiday songs (29 percent vs. 5 percent). However, older shoppers (55+) showed a greater preference for traditional holiday carols than those 54 and younger (37 percent vs. 24 percent). About a third (32 percent) of 18 to 34 year olds wanted "better selection/more variety" in holiday music.
Also showing that the music mix doesn’t always click with shoppers, 36 percent admitted to having left a store sooner because of holiday music being played.
An article in The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Stores play less Christmas music — finally," found that holiday music makes up 25 percent to 50 percent of stores’ mix for clients of PlayNetwork, a maker of customized playlists for stores. That’s down from 75 percent to 100 percent in past years. Many prefer more contemporary songs in their mix or holiday remixes that mirror their regular sound during the year rather than the holiday standards.
John Mead, president of Adventure 16, the outdoor chain, told U-T San Diego, "As much as we all love holiday music, it can get a little old about the 10th of December."
Discussion Questions
Do you think traditional Christmas standards become annoying to shoppers at times as the holiday season progresses? What’s your advice around the proper holiday music mix?
No matter the song or singer—Christmas music starts too early. Maybe mix it up with other music untill week of December 15th then lay it on.
Also, match music to areas in the large stores. No one plays 50,000 Kilowatt Christmas Tree by the Bobs.
This song is the core of Christmas in suburbia.
My advice is to keep the carols up to date and let them evolve. Christmas carols existed long before Bing Crosby. Many carols we are so familiar with have only existed on a short timeline over the past 2,000 years. Most will just become history after we are gone. A hundred years from now I do hope we will not be haunted by Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.
Even the older shoppers in this survey did not prefer traditional Christmas carols—37 percent is not a ringing (or bell-ringing) endorsement. The results probably depend on the setting, too: Is the music being played on your car radio, where you have some control over the type of music, or in a store where the retailer might aim for a “music mix” compatible with its overall brand positioning?
My very small survey sample is my Millennial daughter-in-law’s car radio, where she has four stations pre-tuned to different styles of holiday music. Everything from Bing Crosby to Taylor Swift. So as usual I’m skeptical of any survey data that paints an entire population with a broad brush.
This is great, I always wanted to be a music critic. Oops, that’s right, we’re addressing retail and the consumer. So let’s give our readers the most important view. How are consumers in America dealing with the winter holidays, Christmas and Chanukah in particular?
The Prosper Monthly Consumer Survey of 6,792 respondents (November) doesn’t ask respondents about their choice in holiday music. It does ask them if they plan to celebrate the winter holidays. Fully 92.2 percent of adults 18 and over plan on doing so. Of those who answered positively to the winter holidays, 94.1 percent said that they will be celebrating Christmas. 96.2 percent of Millennials will celebrate Christmas, and 97.2 percent of married Millennials will celebrate the holidays.
Some of the top items that they enjoy doing on Christmas? Well 66.75 percent of adults like to visit family and friends, while 68.3 percent of Millennials and 71.5 percent of married Millennials appreciate that experience. Six out of 10 married Millennials enjoy the opportunity to cook holiday meals, it’s 53.4 percent of total adults. Opening gifts is one of those moments of joy for seven out of 10 married Millennials.
I’m a Boomer. My Gen-X son, who works in retail, tells me that he’s a bit worn out on Christmas music by the 10th of December, and he wishes that his stores invested in some variation on the holiday songs yet, when the family is around the tree, he’s singing along with everyone: The three-year-olds to the 90-year-olds.
Offer some variety—keep Bing, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole (and his daughter), Barbara Streisand, Gene Autry and Manhattan Steamroller. Add in Katie Perry and the Chipmunks. But keep the music going at retail. It resonates with your shoppers—young, old, in-between, Hispanic, Northerner or Southern.
Feliz Navidad and Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah.
Does the shopper notice the music when they’re shopping? I do, but consider it like Muzak (am I showing my age?). It’s there, it’s in the background, it sets an atmosphere. The studies are more on the effect the music has on shopping and buying—just like on how merchandising and colors affect mood and buying. There’s nothing wrong with nostalgia and good feelings, that’s what the traditional Christmas standards mean to me. And I really don’t think the Millennials would mind that much.
As a conductor and speaker, there are about 20 songs we accept as “Christmas Music.” While it sounds good to “mix it up” most retailers subscribe to a Muzak or other system which pays the royalties, making it a bit impossible. Boomers still control 70 percent of disposable income. While Lady Gaga could record Silent Night—they still expect to hear Bing’s version.
I am sure if I worked retail during the holidays that I would hate Christmas music. As a shopper, I never notice the music except at Christmas time. It must be the familiarity. But by the time the third or fourth song comes on, I am annoyed. The first one makes me smile. The fourth one makes me frown.
My advice: Mix it up. If we cataloged the “standards” by the year they were introduced, we would find that it probably spans 50 years. Today’s newbie may be tomorrow’s standard, in a very short period of time.
As time progress, the range and diversity of holiday music has expanded. So much so that John Lennon’s “So This is Christmas” and Jose Feliciano “Feliz Navidad” have become just as much of holiday classics as “White Christmas” and “Jingle Bells.”
While the commercialization of Christmas continues, I believe most Americans still see Christmas music and caroling as traditions that need to be kept intact. The fact that contemporary artists are creating their own “classics” provides the link to the more traditional, long-standing classics and engages the younger audience in the process.
My advice is to play a wide range of holiday music and don’t forget to spike the egg nog.
I am feeling SO old right now. I LOVE all the vintage holiday standards! I say play a mix of new and old holiday tunes, but definitely play them!
Let the shoppers decide. As with any season/event/change in promotion, monitor social media. Yes there should be a mix of old and new; the Millennials will recognize the newer artists. If one only played my mix, the Phil Spector Christmas Album, then it would be an ideal world. Then again, I’m dating myself and biased here. 🙂
Christmas is the busiest and most profitable period of the year. Killing the music that reinforces the environment and buying season is absurd.
However, it will evolve.
It’s too early to suggest traditional Christmas standards have legs. My guess is Bing will be long-forgotten in 30 years just as whoever was singing Christmas carols before Bing is history.