Music to Our Ears
People have intently debated the idea of whether or not music increases productivity while working. With over 10 years experience working in a creative environment, I know music can help stimulate creativity, take the edge off when under stressful deadlines, and break up the monotony of 12 hour days in front of the Mac.
Music in the Workplace
So listening to music while you work might just be the best thing since hot donuts. The right mix of tunes and caffeine can help the office get motivated, stay productive, and get the creative juices pumping. Music is a major part of our creative culture and daily life. On any given day the office is bumping to a wide variety of music and playlists. We can be found coding to the latest Daft Punk re-mix, brainstorming to Queen, designing websites to Poison, or just chilling out to the beats of Bob Marley.
Creating the perfect creative office playlist can be as simple as going to a website these days, but it’s deciding what’s going on the list that can become a challenging quest. Sifting through playlists, from metal, to punk, to electronica, on what seems to be a never-ending search for the perfect tunes. Some of the preferred music services that can be found streaming daily at the office include Spotify, Rdio, iTunes Radio, Slacker, StereoMood, and on occasions SirusXM.
Here is some of the creative teams’ latest tunes and artists that are found streaming through out the office when they are tasked as the daily office DJ.
Melissa McClanahan – Sr. Designer / Developer
Current Top 5 Tunes to work to
- The Power’s Out – Flogging Molly
- The Number of the Beast – Iron Maiden
- Fly – Blind Guardian
- Curl of the Burl – Mastodon
- Winter Comes – Covenant
Jarrett Drouillard – Sr. Developer
Current Top 5 Artist to work to
- Prince
- Michael Jackson
- Skrillex
- Ellie Goulding
- Weird Al Yankovich
The Creative Bullpen
Current Top 5 Office Playlists
- Face Melting Metal (Features artists similar to Metallica, Slayer, and Pantera)
- Industrial Complex (Features artists similar to VNV Nation, KMFDM, and Prodigy)
- AquaNet Nation (Features artists similar to Motley Crue, Poison and Def Leppard)
- Guitar Heroes (Features artists similar to Jimi Hendrix, Robert Cray, and Eric Clapton)
- 80‘s Flashback (Features artists similar to Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, and Billy Idol)
Whether it’s the latest techno mix playlist or an NPR pod casts, music in the office has become a part of our daily work routine.
How does music affect your work performance? Do you have a favorite work playlist, artists, or top 5 you can share with us?