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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Prescriptive Music Humming with New Office, Clients

Prescriptive Music, a Woodland Hills-based firm that helps companies create the perfect ambiance through music, is settling into new digs as it ushers in a healthy new dose of business. The company, which has provided custom playlists for big-name clients like Wolfgang Puck, Marriott hotels and Cheesecake Factory, has doubled its intake of new clients, said CEO Allen Klevens. Most recently, the company has signed on the Four Seasons Hotel in Baltimore, Sugar Factory in Las Vegas and the Fairmont Peace Hotel in Shanghai. To accommodate the growth, the firm recently moved its seven full-time employees into a new office, located at 5900 Canoga Ave. At 3,970 square feet, the new office doubles the size of the company’s previous Woodland Hills location. Each month, about 30 to 40 new companies come to Prescriptive looking to boost their business with a fresh new beat, Klevens said. “We take that sensory branding to a new level,” he said. “We are the secret weapons of hotels and restaurants.” The music sensory branding business includes industry heavy-hitters such as Toronto, Canada-based Mood Media, which in March acquired the formerly bankrupt Muzak Holdings. And digital music devices, such as iPods and MP3 players, also present competition to Prescriptive and others. However, using digital devices can present legal issues for businesses. Many businesses are unaware that they can get fined for as much as $60,000 for copyright infringement from downloading songs from iTunes or playing a CD, Klevens said. Firms such as Prescriptive protect businesses against such violations because the music is licensed, he said. Since he started Prescriptive 12 years ago, Klevens has grown the company from a one-man show to a full-blown band of music programmers. Encouraged by the influx of new business, he said he plans on hiring four new people in the next year. Since settling into its new space, Prescriptive already has added an additional music programmer to its staff, said Alix Rumsey, director of music programming. Klevens founded Prescriptive music in 1999 after attending a nurses’ convention in which he saw a need for music in medical centers. He began selling CDs and selling them to operating rooms. “I made healing music,” Klevens said. “People would say ‘Allen’s music helped me relax.’” After years of catering to medical centers, spas and florists, Klevens decided he needed a change so he began making more progressive music that would appeal to a wider range of clients. About six years after starting Prescriptive Music, Klevens updated their programming system. The company’s computer software allows the company to have access to clients’ playlists 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Rumsey, who joined Prescriptive as a music programmer in January 2008, said it’s been “eye opening” to see the company grow its national and international presence despite the economic downturn. Clay Andrews, general manager of the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills said Prescriptive Music was instrumental in the success of the hotel’s patio area, which was renovated a year and a half ago. Andrews said he collaborated with Klevens to give the area a “South Beach feel” that would provide customers a space that would be both relaxing and entertaining. “We saw a good 20 percent increase in revenue for that area in the hotel,” Andrews said. “I think music was a big part of that.” As Prescriptive’s portfolio of clients continues to grow, Klevens said his company’s motive will always remain the same. “The idea for us is to find those locations that care enough about their brand and care enough about what their clients feel about their brand, and we help them succeed with music,” Klevens said.

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