A recent petition has called for generic on-hold music from companies to be replaced with new music from emerging Australian talent.
The pandemic has certainly had catastrophic effects on the music industry worldwide. Many industry experts are exploring ways to keep it afloat during the tough times.
One rather genius expert, entertainment industry publicist Karen Eck, came up with the idea for companies to replace that boring on-hold music with something a little more special. New music from upcoming talent in the local scene.
Genius!
The idea came to her when she was left on hold for a shocking 7 hours and 19 minutes with Qantas, where the same bloody 15-second tune looped the entire time!
How she got through it, we’ll never know. But one things for sure: we need a change.
The petition, which is circulating from change.org, has only 80 signatures so far, but is now being backed by QANTAS and APRA/AMCOS.
If death struck me right now, I’d die happy that I never have to hear the hold music from ME Bank ever again.
— (have-YER! Candeira) (@candeira) August 3, 2021
It’s a mutually beneficial deal. On the one hand, Aussie artists get a chance to shine in a new way, while customers being placed on hold can enjoy a much more pleasant experience and retain their sanity in the process.
Karen elaborates:
“Currently, many companies use licence-free music on a repetitive loop designed to make customers hang up or incur a persistent earworm.”
I just realized that the automatic hold music to my brain is the theme song from Doug.
— Jacey (@tonightnotrobot) August 3, 2021
“If you have to wait for hours to speak to a company representative wouldn’t you rather be entertained while supporting Australian musicians doing it tough?”
We certainly agree. It seems like hold music could be the future of radio. Over the last decade or so, radio has seen a steady decline as streaming services become the new listening norm.
This idea from Karen could be a fantastic way to bring it back into relevance and encourage the public to take notice of the many wonderful talents this country has to offer.
