Music has long played a role in the workplace. From factory floors of the early 20th century to today’s open-plan offices and remote home setups, workers have reached for music as a way to ease repetition, mask noise, and stay focused. The question of whether music actually improves productivity, however, is more complex than playlists and personal preference would suggest. Decades of research have produced findings that are nuanced, conditional, and sometimes contradictory.
A Long-Studied Question
Research into music and workplace performance dates back more than half a century. A 1972 study published in Applied Ergonomics found that background music increased the efficiency of repetitive tasks. By contrast, a 1966 study in the Journal of Applied Psychology examined workers at a skateboard factory and found that while employees believed music made them more productive, the actual measurable effect on output was negligible.
This tension between perception and performance has remained a recurring theme. Music can shape how people feel about their work without always translating into measurable gains, and the conditions under which it helps or hinders depend heavily on the task, the listener, and the type of music.
How Music Affects the Brain at Work
Modern research has helped clarify why music can influence focus and performance. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, music activates the reward centers of the brain, particularly during moments of novelty or shifts in melody. This release of dopamine can boost mood, motivation, and engagement with tasks.
The National Library of Medicine has reported that listening to music can improve cognitive functions such as memory, attention span, and behavioral regulation. For many workers, this translates into longer periods of sustained focus, especially during repetitive or low-cognitive-load tasks.
Music also serves a practical function in noisy environments. In open-plan offices, irrelevant speech is one of the most disruptive forms of noise, and prior research has linked continuous exposure to such speech with impaired working memory. Music, particularly instrumental music, can mask conversational noise and help workers maintain concentration.
The Limits of the Benefit
Music’s productivity boost is not unlimited. A 2024 study co-authored by University of New Hampshire Paul College Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior Nikhil Awasty examined how self-selected music affects workplace performance. The research spanned three studies, including a pilot of 108 software company employees, a lab experiment with 252 undergraduate students performing proofreading tasks, and a three-week experience sampling study involving 247 full-time employees.
The findings were consistent. Moderate music listening, about an hour longer than usual, improved performance. But listening for too long, roughly three additional hours, led to declines. Willpower also played a role, meaning that the benefits of music depended in part on a person’s ability to self-regulate their listening habits.
The takeaway is that music can support focus in measured doses but lose its edge when overused.
Genre and Task Matter
Not all music is equally suited to all tasks. Studies have generally found that instrumental music is less distracting than music with lyrics, particularly for tasks involving reading, writing, or detailed analysis. Lyrics activate language-processing regions of the brain, which can compete with the cognitive resources needed for verbal work.
Classical music and nature sounds are commonly cited as productive choices because they lack lyrics and tend to be soothing. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute found that nature sounds can mask intelligible speech as effectively as white noise while also enhancing cognitive functioning and worker satisfaction.
For repetitive or mechanical tasks, music with a steady beat and uplifting tone tends to work well. Pop music, for example, has been shown to improve speed in data entry tasks for many workers. Studies have also found that ambient music can improve data entry accuracy in a large majority of workers.
Some genres, however, are more polarizing. Survey data has indicated that hip-hop and heavy metal are among the most distracting genres for many office workers, though preferences vary widely by individual and task. In medical settings, a 2020 study found that classical music played at low or medium volume could improve a surgeon’s performance, while loud or fast-tempo music could have the opposite effect.
Industry Differences
The perceived value of music at work also varies by industry. Survey data has shown that workers in information services and data processing are the most likely to believe music increases productivity, followed by those in wholesale and retail, and then in medical and health care fields. Creative industries also tend to favor music, particularly for brainstorming or design work.
A Tool, Not a Cure-All
The body of research suggests that music can be a useful tool for improving focus, mood, and performance, but it is not a universal productivity solution. Benefits depend on the type of music, the nature of the task, the listener’s preferences, and the duration of listening. Self-selected music played at moderate volumes, in moderate amounts, and matched to the cognitive demands of the task tends to produce the best results.
For workers seeking to harness music’s potential, the practical advice from researchers is straightforward: choose music that does not compete with the task at hand, keep an ear on how long you have been listening, and treat the playlist as a support, not a substitute, for focused work.
