How to Choose Music for a Mixed-Age Corporate Audience

The secret to music for a mixed-age corporate audience is to start in the middle of the room's age range, watch who responds, and adjust from there. A fixed playlist can't do that. A live musician who's paying attention can.

Almost every corporate event I play has a wide age range. A sales team in their twenties and thirties, a leadership group in their fifties and sixties, and a few retirees or spouses who came along. I've been reading rooms like that for almost twenty years. Here's how I approach it, and what planners can do to help.

Start in the middle

I almost always open with something from the middle of the room's likely age range. For a typical corporate crowd, that's often early-'90s, like Counting Crows' "Mr. Jones." Most people in the room know it, nobody finds it too old or too young, and it tells me a lot. I'm watching faces. Who looks up? Who starts mouthing along? That first ten minutes is when I decide where to go next.

Era and energy are two different dials

This is the part people don't think about. When a planner says, "Our crowd is older," that tells me which decades to lean on. It doesn't tell me how much energy the room wants. A dinner hour with a fifty-to-seventy crowd calls for something like Van Morrison or James Taylor at a gentle level. The same crowd after dinner might want the Eagles, Tom Petty, and "Brown Eyed Girl" with everybody singing. Same era, completely different energy.

So I think about two things at once. Which decades are landing, and how much energy the moment calls for. Cocktail hour, dinner, and the last hour of an event all need different things, even with the same people in the room.

Songs that cross generations

Some songs work for almost everybody. They're not always the obvious hits, but they're the ones that get a twenty-five-year-old and a sixty-five-year-old singing the same chorus. A few that consistently land for me:

• "Brown Eyed Girl," Van Morrison

• "Stand by Me," Ben E. King

• "Wagon Wheel," Darius Rucker

• "Take It Easy," the Eagles

• "Mr. Brightside," the Killers

• "Don't Stop Believin'," Journey

• "Sweet Caroline," Neil Diamond

• "I'm Yours," Jason Mraz

In North Carolina, James Taylor's "Carolina in My Mind" belongs on that list too, especially when there are guests from out of state.

Group songs into short blocks

One mistake I work hard to avoid is camping in one style for too long. If I play six '70s songs in a row, I've lost the younger half of the room. Instead, I think in blocks of three or four songs that flow together, then shift. That way everyone hears something they love every few minutes, and the night never feels like it was programmed for one group.

Requests are a gift

When someone walks up with a request, that's the room telling me what it wants. I take them whenever I can, and I'll attempt a song I only half know if the moment is right. Some of the best moments at corporate events come from a request from someone who clearly didn't expect me to play it.

Planners can help here too. If you know the CEO's favorite song, or there's a song tied to your company or your year, tell me ahead of time. Playing it at the right moment means a lot more than playing it at a random one.

What planners can share ahead of time

• A rough age range, and whether it's internal staff, clients, or both

• Any VIPs whose taste matters, like the CEO, the honoree, or a key client

• Must-plays, must-avoids, and anything tied to the occasion

• Whether there are international or out-of-state guests

• How you'd like the night to feel: relaxed, celebratory, or somewhere in between

For a corporate dinner at Pinehurst this summer, the client asked for a setlist that leaned older. That was exactly the right call for that room, and knowing it ahead of time made the evening better.

Planning an event for a mixed crowd?

Send me your date, venue, and a little about who's coming. I'll reply the same day with how I'd approach the room and a quote. Serving a room full of different people is my favorite part of this job, and it would be an honor to serve yours.