So I've been getting tired of listening to country and rock at work and in my ennui, I decided to load my iPod up with a bunch of real nice tracks from some games about half a week ago. Among these was many selections from P3 and P4 (including the P3 Arrange album). I can't believe how much the music augmented the atmosphere of my store! Everyone is more productive, sales have increased, customer disposition has improved, it's great!

I'm not so presumptuous to say that it's purely the music, but it's certainly fun to believe that. I've even had some people comment that they really liked what they heard. It's been a great week. Thank you, Meguro.

So my big question is, does anyone have any other suggestions? I have Ridge Racer Type 4, Ridge Racer 6, some of the more relaxing stuff from Chrono Cross, Xenogears, Suikoden and Shadow Hearts, Racing Lagoon, P3 and P4 and the Rockman 9 Arrange album loaded up right now. Basically, I am looking for light electronica (nothing too heavy or dissonant), maybe some ethnic-flavoured works. Pretty much anything that would work well in a 'lounge' kind of environment.

Not to delve too much into your private/work life but it might be helpful in making recommendations to know what sort of store you work at.

I'd have thought "coffee shop" was sufficient, I work at a Second Cup. Don't know if they got those in the US, never seen one when I've gone to visit. Been inside a Starbucks? Basically the same kinda deal.

Note to self to carefully read thread titles.

Here are some game music recommendations for a coffee shop.  With the possible exception of Romancing SaGa La Romance, it'd probably be best to pick and choose tracks rather than play the whole album.

Chrono Trigger - Brink of Time
Mirror's Edge: Still Alive The Remixes - Still Alive (Teddybears Mix)
Mr. Bones (rock, but bluesy rock)
Romancing SaGa - La Romance (highly recommended)
Shatter OST

Of course, people have all kinds of different taste...
so, maybe you could experiment? There's quite a bit of classically arranged VGM that I think is awesome and suitable. Oh! and it's hard to go wrong with arranged Super Mario music Everyone seems to love that! To that end, I'd recommend Mario & Zelda Big Band and Mario 20th Anniversary CD (because the Mario Sunshine music is great
...actually, I haven't played SMG... but it's on my to-play list... some point. I heard that has great music too. Let us know how things progress!

cheers,

-avatar!

How can people constantly constantly constantly listen to regular popular standard normal music on the radio? How? How? It drives me buggers. Just a few days ago, some girl at my workplace brought in a cd of her music while we were finishing up. It was all regular music, as one would expect from a standardized human that doesn't dare to ever deviate from what other people are doing, for fear of being questioned. So the next day I brought in some of my music, which included Castlevania Judgment, Lord of Vermillion, and Megalomania. It was initially met with harsh criticism. They were wondering how I could listen to such music. But I forced them to listen to it (an advantage of being in charge) and one of the standardized humans eventually called it 'cool' (she also admitted to liking music from Soul Reaver).

On a positive note, they did immediately differentiate it from regular music. I was partly impressed that they could identify it as video game music, despite never having played any of those games. (Amusingly, one guy thought the CV music was from Zelda.)

As for video game music for paying customers, I have tried that. They responded well to Symphony Ys, Turok 2: Seeds of Evil and Dracula New Classic. Normally (in my restaurant) customers say nothing about the music. That's because it's regular radio music performed by popular artists, which I tend to think of as background noise, as it is not emotionally engaging in the least. But those 3 albums above got their attention, enough for them to stop and say something about it.

There is some sort of strange resistance amongst the general populace to music from games. I don't think they understand that they are permitted to listen to such music. You need a rebellious mind to listen to video game music. Most of us started out with sound tests, realizing that we are indeed permitted to listen to it, despite the fact it comes from a non-traditional source.

Since P4 sounds like regular electronica, regular folks don't mind it.
It's about picking tracks that have similar production standards which people are used to hearing.

It's easy to get away with it when it's arrange albums in the same genre which most people already like (classical, jazz/lounge, celtic, etc.)

I'd caution against playing stuff that most people could clearly identify as "sounds like it's from a game" (Zelda, Mario, Sonic, etc.) because that will trigger the "Game=WTF?" switch in their heads.

Let me just say if I walked into a coffee shop playing Meguro or any other kind of VGM, I would probably hang out there or befriend the management!

Around 10 years ago, my friend and I tried this in a retail store for a few months as well.  Generally, we found that 99% of the customers didn't notice, 99% of the employees hated us with a passion, and the 1% of the customers that recognized the music thought it was cool.

I think the big issue is audience. I tried playing game and anime music at 7-Eleven way back, and it received nothing but purely negative receptions. For some reason, well-to-do suburbanites respond very favourably to whatever is playing on my playlist.

In fact, one of the customers who I am very friendly with (a woman in her 60's, if you can believe it) really loved the selections I played from Shadow Hearts. When I told her it was from a video game, she was pleasantly surprised, so I'm going to lend her the arrange album, Near Death Experience when I see her next.

Bernhardt likes this! (Thumbs up!)

Implying you got Facebook? Add me, bro!

Also, the woman I lent Shadow Hearts Arrange to gave it back with an absolutely glowing review. She had nothing but good things to say. Warms my heart, truly it does.

What about the Rockman X arrange album? I would think it's jazzy stylings would be a good fit.

Edit:

You know, where I use to work, this is the kind of stuff that drove me crazy. I think the lack of open-mindedness is the worst part, especially when you consider there were many songs my co-workers played that I came around to liking, adopted into my own music collection and expanded my taste with. Nobody else did this and I have to say it ticked me off. I'm not saying they have to like what I play, but when someone adopts something you play in response - and their taste expands as well the whole idea of "cultural exchange" or exchanging musical ideas feels good. Sad to see it’s such a one-sided affair much of the time.

Check your e-mail, dude!

Interesting...I always thought Near Death Experience was too hardcore for normal people to accept...especially with all of the occult themes, motifs, chants, and what-have-you...

...

Some other game soundtracks you can add to the PA of your coffee shop of win include:

Everybody Loves Katamari / Minna Daisuke Katamari
I Can't Forgive You / Anata wo Yurusunai
Phantom Kingdom Arrange
Technictix Remix (Vol.1)

Granted, all of those I like to listen to solely in the evening / at night, and they're pretty much a mix of jazz and electronica, some of which include vocals. People might have problems with the Japanese on Katamari, but other than that...those soundtracks have some of my favorite jams to listen to at night when I'm visiting my favorite bar or cafe.

Technictix Remix Vol. 1? Really? There are definitely some themes on there that most people would probably not enjoy in a casual environment. As much as I enjoy it, Noom ad Neetor definitely tops that list. It is a great album and is one of my favorites from 2008, but overall though...just not one I think makes for a good relaxing/casual atmosphere for most people.

You have a point, but I think

"Mao's Honeymoon"
"Vintage Nova"
"Clip! Clack Click!"
"Right back at You"

Are down tempo just enough to fit a casual environment...or maybe not.

I guess it really is a dance album...

Been awhile since I last listened to it...

I agree that the jazzier themes on there would probably be fitting for that type of environment.