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By Jennifer J. Salopek
Since ancient times, talents as great as Aaron Copland and as witty as Shakespeare have struggled to describe music with words. They have captured the skill of the composer: “Painters paint their pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence,” said Leopold Stokowski. They have expressed our appreciation for music: “Without music life would be a mistake,” Nietzsche said. They have described its ability to bring us together: “Music is the universal language of mankind,” wrote Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. But to describe precisely what music is, rather than what it does, evades our grasp.
Gustav Mahler understood. “If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music,” he wrote.
What amusement parks and attractions say through their music is key to establishing the guest experience. “Music is as important a part of park branding and ambiance as colors, lighting, and landscape,” says Tim Samson, art director at Morey’s Piers and Beachfront Waterparks in Wildwood, New Jersey. However, he also notes, music is more notable in its absence than in its presence. “There’s a whole psychology about audio. It’s not really about what you’re playing. If the music is clear and played at an appropriate, audible volume, people don’t notice it. But if the volume is too low or the speaker is blown, then it can have negative effects.”
Amusement parks and attractions use music in many venues: in live shows, over loudspeakers, on certain rides—even on their websites and telephone holds. It’s important to select music carefully that reflects the image you want to convey— then make sure you have the appropriate licenses to play it.
John Norris, vice president at Seabreeze Amusement Park in Rochester, New York, says his park plays recorded music on its “Music Express” ride and in a live acrobatics show. The park is family owned and operated, so the owners select the music. They do select individual songs, he says, and change the playlist for “Music Express” every year or two.
“We have gotten positive comments from guests about the music we play in the park,” says Ron Gustafson, director of public relations at Quassy Amusement Park in Middlebury, Connecticut. “It’s part of the park’s image, so we are very selective about it. We don’t really have to worry about the teen market, but when we see parents lip syncing—that’s what we want to see.”
Gustafson works with local radio stations to get music that is inoffensive and that parents will identify with—tunes he describes as “happy rock/pop.” The music is played on two rides, “Music Fest” and the “Trabant,” but not over the park’s public address system, as it would compete. Gustafson has several sets of CDs he switches out during the season.
Themed Music
Morey’s Piers encompasses three amusement parks and two waterparks, which are divided into zoned experiences; the music differs in each. Restaurants, games, arcades, and entrance areas are all different zones. Samson presides over a complex system of 54 to 64 zones, each playing 24 to 30 audio streams. The “Ghost Ship” haunted house alone consists of eight zones and three streams. Music changes not only with geographic area, but with time: During the day, the vibe is relaxed and evocative of the beach; at night, the tunes switch to high-energy dance music. The carousel and kiddie areas have their own audio environments, as well. Meanwhile, at the waterparks, Raging Waters streams satellite radio, while the Ocean Oasis and Beach Club usually features a live musician.
Samson joined Morey’s Piers in 2003. He inherited many of the songs on the playlists and added many from his own collection. “Music selection has much to do with personal taste and staff requests, but if a song can’t be played on the radio without being edited, we don’t play it here,” he says.
The system is completely digital and networked; songs are sent out over fiber-optic cables to the various park zones. It has two servers with four channels apiece; songs are stored on legacy digital audio repeaters and multiple iPods, which are gradually replacing older technology. In total, there are about 3,000 songs in the archive, which are sent out over a total of 225 speakers.
Proper Paperwork
Whether music is played in a live show, on a ride, or in the bathroom s, this is regarded as a “public performance” by music licensing agencies. Musicians and composers are paid royalties on any public performance of their works. There are agencies out there to help you with this problem, so you don’t have to track down individual copyright owners; the main three are BMI, SESAC, and ASCAP. Paying them an annual blanket license fee assures compliance and frees you from the legwork of figuring out who owns what. Most parks maintain licenses with all three.
“The concept of the blanket license is that it allows parks to play as much or as little music as they want, as often as they want,” explains Vincent Candilora, senior vice president of licensing at ASCAP. “The thing to remember is that you are using someone else’s property, so you need to get their ‘permission’ and pay them for it.”
To apply for a license, you have only to contact the agency. Under a consent decree, that constitutes the “seeking permission” part; no one who has requested a license can be denied. Then a form is completed that calculates your annual license fee. The rate schedule is simple: Parks and attractions pay licensing fees for recorded music based on annual attendance. For ASCAP, the formula for recorded music is attendance multiplied by 0.0063. Therefore, if your yearly attendance is 1 million guests, your license fee would be $6,300.
You pay licensing fees for live performances based on annual expenditures: costs multiplied by 0.01. If you annually spend $ 50,000 on live performances, your license fee for those would be $500.
It’s also possible to seek out “royalty-free” music, notes Samson, who uses it mostly on the park entrance PA system. Good sources include musicbakery.com and iStock.com.
Jennifer J. Salopek is a freelance writer in McLean, Virginia. She can be reached at jjsalopek@cox.net.
Original Music Makes the Experience … Original!
 Todd Nelson, president of Kalahari Resorts, was sitting in his office one day in 2002 when a staff member told him a guest wanted to see him. “I had no idea what to expect, but I said to send him in,” Nelson says.
That guest was veteran songwriter/producer Darryl Duncan of Gamebeat Studios. As a trained musician, Duncan is even more aware of music in his environment than most people. During his family vacation to the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells, Duncan was enchanted by the property’s spectacular African-themed décor. “But I couldn’t believe the elevator music they were playing in the lobby and public spaces,” Duncan says.
A seasoned professional who has written for or produced such artists as Jeffrey Osborne, Chaka Khan, and R. Kelly, Duncan began composing an original tune during his vacation, then visited Nelson in his office to sing it to him. Nelson purchased it on the spot.
“Darryl is incredibly talented,” says Nelson. “We just had the smarts to say yes.”
When no other music will do, parks and attractions turn to original composition. SeaWorld Orlando did just that for its “Believe” production.
“Our SeaWorld parks are moving in this direction with our shows, as it provides us with a high degree of creative control,” explains Mike Mairot, senior manager of show production. “In addition, we maintain ownership of the music and can leverage [it] for other purposes, including merchandising.”
Mairot and show staff spent several months interviewing composers before selecting Chris Ward, whose experience and expertise allowed them to develop a shared vision. Nelson and Duncan have developed a similar shared vision during their working relationship, which has now spanned eight years and resulted in three original songs, including their most recent, a catchy kids’ tune called “Kalahari Get Down.”
At SeaWorld, animal trainers, creative team members, and the composer collaborated to create a musical score that reflected the emotional content of the show sequences. “By working together, we were able to create a dynamic sound track that spoke to the underlying message of ‘Believe,’” Mairot says. SeaWorld also invested in original music for two other shows, “Blue Horizons,” and “A’lure: The Call of the Ocean.”
Whether the opportunity falls into your lap, as it did for Kalahari, or you seek out the composer who is right for your park and your needs, the investment in original music can really pay off. “As with much in our industry, I can’t quantify the ROI in terms of dollars and cents,” says Nelson. “But the music now definitely enhances the guest experience; it makes us look like we’ve got our act together.”
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