Recently, I've been spending quite a bit of time reorganising a few of CD section projects and thinking about how different categories should evolve. Somewhere along the way, a thought came back to me. When people talk about retail transformation, the conversation is often about digitalisation, AI or omnichannel. Yet one thing that has quietly stayed with me over the years is my CD-RAMA department ... the Music section. Around 2023, I began to see it differently. Instead of viewing it as a department that facing declining sales, I started asking myself: What if this wasn't just about selling music, but about preserving music culture and creating an experience that streaming could never replace? That simple question shifted my entire approach. The goal was never just to improve sales. It was to reposition and uplift the image of the entire CD-RAMA section—transforming it from a traditional media department into a destination where people could reconnect with music, discover vinyl culture, and experience something that streaming simply cannot offer. Throughout a 2025 re-cate project, I held on to one belief: retail is not only about selling products, but also about preserving culture. Not every initiative was expected to deliver immediate sales growth. Some were designed to strengthen the long-term relevance of the category, inspire curiosity, and keep the culture of physical music alive for future generations. We refreshed the visual identity, strengthened category storytelling, introduced vinyl lifestyle concepts, and explored brand collaborations that made the section feel more immersive and meaningful. One of those ideas led to a collaboration with Syitren & Audio-Technica, where retail display space became a branded experience showcasing turntables and vinyl culture, rather than simply another product display. Looking back at this photo today, I'm reminded that merchandising is never just about arranging products on shelves. It's about understanding people, recognising cultural value, building meaningful brand partnerships, and creating experiences that give customers a reason to stop, explore and connect. Sometimes, the biggest transformation doesn't come from introducing something new. Sometimes, it begins by helping people see something familiar in a completely different way. And sometimes, our responsibility in retail is not only to grow a category, but also to preserve what makes that category worth remembering. Looking back again and again, I realised CD-RAMA was never just about a retail section. It was about giving music culture a place to continue telling its story. #Music #CD #Vinyl #MusicCulture #TheComeBack #Retail #CategoryManagement #Merchandising #RetailStrategy #CustomerExperience #VisualMerchandising #CommercialThinking
Transforming CD-RAMA from Decline to Music Culture Hub
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Music is one of the most underrated brand building tools in the industry. Per Sandell, VP of Product at Spotify, on how playlists like Rap Caviar have built their own cultural identity that lives far beyond the app and what brands can learn from that.
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The Business Value of Background Music Goes Beyond Ambience 📈 For many businesses, music was once considered a finishing touch—a simple way to make a space feel more inviting. Today, that perspective is changing. As customer expectations continue to evolve, businesses are paying closer attention to every detail that shapes the in-store experience. Background music has become one of those elements. The right music helps create a consistent atmosphere, reinforces brand identity, and contributes to a more memorable customer journey. Without a clear strategy, music often depends on personal preferences or manual playlists, resulting in an inconsistent experience across different days, shifts, or locations. A structured approach allows businesses to align the atmosphere they create with the experience they want customers to remember. This is where technology is making a difference. Rather than treating music as something to simply "play," businesses are beginning to manage it as part of their operational and customer experience strategy. At Velodiva, we believe music should work alongside your business objectives. Our platform is designed to help businesses across hospitality, retail, fitness, and other commercial spaces create a more consistent, professional, and engaging audio experience. Because great customer experiences are not built by chance—they are designed, and music is an important part of that design.
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"For the first time, premium production music can sit directly inside a system that evaluates it against a brand’s own sonic identity. Not taste first. Not random search first. Not licensing first. Identity first. That is the shift."
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