Muzak

Muzak is an American brand of background music played in retail stores and other public establishments.

The name Muzak, a blend of music and the popular camera brand name Kodak, has been in use since 1934 and has been owned by various companies. The word Muzak has been a registered trademark of Muzak LLC since December 21, 1954.^[1]

In 1981, Westinghouse bought the company and ran it until selling it to the Fields Company of Chicago, publishers of the Chicago Sun-Times, on September 8, 1986.^[2] Muzak was based in various Seattle, Washington, locations from 1986 to 1999, after which it moved its headquarters to outside Charlotte in 2000.^[3] Formerly owned by Muzak Holdings, the brand was purchased in 2011 by Mood Media in a deal worth US$345 million.^[4][5]

In the United States, due in part to the market dominance of Muzak Holdings, Muzak came to be used to refer to most forms of background music, regardless of source.^[2] This makes Muzak an example of a genericized trademark. Muzak may also be referred to as "elevator music" or "lift music" (see also Music on hold). Though Muzak Holdings was for many years the best-known supplier of background music, and is commonly associated with elevator music, the company itself did not supply music to elevators.^[6]