{"podcast":{"title":"Top Floor","slug":"top-floor-6321208","podcast_index_feed_id":6321208,"rss_url":"https://feeds.libsyn.com/366290/rss?_ga=2.116498438.164353567.1671557087-1121528866.1656706241","website_url":"https://topfloorpodcast.com","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/c/7/e/2/c7e2393712bae1a816c3140a3186d450/TF_2026_Logo_-_Blue_BG-20260116-r48xuyo5to.png","author":"Susan Barry","episode_count":100,"summary":"Top Floor is a weekly podcast with tangible tips and excellent stories from the experts and characters who elevate hospitality. Host and elevator operator Susan Barry explores the idea that everything is marketing in the hotel business. Our interviews with creators, thought leaders and hospitality groundbreakers are designed to provide practical tactics that hoteliers, restaurateurs and travel mavens can use to promote their businesses. Along the way, we answer burning marketing questions submitted on the Emergency Call Button and share the funniest, craziest, just-plain-weirdest stories down at the Loading Dock. Need to press the Emergency Call Button? Or have a story to share at the Loading Dock? Reach us at 850.404.9630 to be featured in a future episode.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/top-floor-6321208"},"episode":{"title":"233 | Musical Tasting Menu","slug":"233-musical-tasting-menu","published_at":"2026-03-03T08:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/top-floor-6321208/233-musical-tasting-menu","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/top-floor-6321208","url":"https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/episode/233","audio_url":"https://pdcn.co/e/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/topfloor/233_Musical_Tasting_Menu.m4a?dest-id=3007631","summary":"Kurt Oleson is the Chief Operating Officer and co-owner of Custom Channels, a Denver-based company delivering fully licensed, human-curated music solutions for hotels and restaurants. A classically trained pianist turned music technologist, he helped build early music-recommendation algorithms before joining his company. Susan and Kurt talk about licensing landmines and algorithmic ethics. What You'll Learn: • Why playing Spotify in your restaurant could cost you $10,000 per song • How performance and composition licenses protect artists • How following \"passion-adjacent opportunities\" can shape an unexpected career • The upside and ethical gray areas of algorithm-driven music discovery • Why human-curated playlists still outperform AI in hospitality settings • How tempo, energy, and traffic patterns should shape your daily music flow • How many songs you actually need to avoid repetition • Why commoditizing music undermines its impact on your brand *** Our Top Three Takeaways Music isn't background noise—it's a business tool. When aligned with traffic patterns, brand identity, and desired guest behavior, audio can increase dwell time, improve turnover, and even become a profit center. Playing unlicensed music is a massive legal and financial risk. One audit could mean fines of up to $10,000 per song, making proper licensing non-negotiable for hospitality operators. Human-curated music is still a competitive advantage. AI can assist with scheduling and context triggers, but brand-aligned, emotionally intelligent curation drives better guest experiences. Kurt Oleson on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurtoleson1/ Custom Channels https://www.custom-channels.com/ Cayuga Hospitality Consultants https://cayugahospitality.com/ Hive Marketing https://www.hive-marketing.c…","meta_description":"Kurt Oleson is the Chief Operating Officer and co-owner of Custom Channels, a Denver-based company delivering fully licensed, human-curated music solution…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2519,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/top-floor-6321208/episodes/233-musical-tasting-menu/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/top-floor-6321208/233-musical-tasting-menu.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}