Muzak

American  

[myoo-zak] / ˈmyu zæk /

Trademark.

1. recorded background music transmitted by radio, telephone, or satellite to built-in sets in offices, restaurants, waiting rooms, etc.

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Muzak British  

/ ˈmjuːzæk /

noun

1. recorded light music played in shops, restaurants, factories, etc, to entertain, increase sales or production, etc

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Example Sentences

When I was a teenager I worked in an apothecary whose otherwise generous and warmhearted owner made me listen to treacle Muzak versions of “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” all day when perfectly fabulous songs by Jefferson Airplane and the Four Tops were playing just a few centimeters to the left on the dial.

From The Wall Street Journal

“I said, ‘I got some good news, I got the lead in a play,” Allen sings over a bossa nova-meets-elevator muzak instrumental.

From Salon

It is the roads, the cars, the Muzak in the elevators.

From The Wall Street Journal

The price tags are higher than they should be, the inescapable muzak drones on and at my local supermarket, it seems as though a quiet conspiracy is afoot.

From Salon

By day, birdsong is as omnipresent as Muzak at a mall; frogs serenade the night.

From Los Angeles Times