Matthew Hayman

Music Strategist · Cultural Programmer · Brand Consultant

There is a moment when the music is exactly right - when sound stops being background and becomes part of the brand experience.

Matthew has spent twenty years asking what that moment costs when it is missing and building the methodology to answer it commercially.

The career began in live music curating events for Converse, Lynx, Ford and Xbox alongside artists including Rudimental, Stereophonics, DJ Fresh and Hurts. From there, national DJ programmes for All Saints, H&M, Topshop and New Look. Then Music Concierge, PlayNetwork and a direct partnership with Apple Music, designing and implementing music strategies for some of the most considered global brands in luxury hospitality and retail.

That work spans Apple Music, Burberry, The Estée Lauder Group (Aveda, Jo Malone, Tom Ford), Harrods, Tommy Hilfiger, KFC, Rhubarb Hospitality, D&D London, Park Hyatt, COMO Hotels, Dishoom, Hilton, Corinthia Hotels, The Wolseley and Studio City Macau.

Alongside that, a long-running presence on the London hospitality scene as a resident DJ at Arts Club Mayfair, The Dorchester, The Savoy, Groucho Club, Quaglino's, Somerset House and Bluebird Café.

Across global music providers, licensing and brand strategy, he has sat on every side of the conversation: what the providers are selling, what the research actually says, what brands are getting and what they are not. That position — held by almost no one else in this space — is what makes the work different.

Now working directly with brands, and alongside the agencies, consultancies and creative studios that shape their experience, to build a specialist strategic layer across the brand life cycle. The work sits inside your process. Not alongside it. Not competing with it.

The gap between what a brand intends to sound like and what a customer actually experiences is always measurable. It has just never been measured. That is the first thing every audit is built to find — what the gap is actually costing.

Services

The most culturally credible brands in the world are being quietly undermined by their own background music. The artist partnership says one thing. The ambient sound says another. The customer hears eveything in the experiences.

Sound reaches a guest before any of the designed work does before they see the room, taste the food or speak to anyone. It is the first impression of everything you spent two years building. And the only element of that experience that has never had a brief, a score or a person accountable for it.

The music brief — if one exists at all — never reaches the people living inside it every day. The staff do not know why it was chosen. The operator cannot tell you whether it is working. The provider has no commercial reason to ask.

The brands and agencies that build a sound strategy now will own that territory. The ones that do not will keep spending on music every month with no way of knowing what it returns.

The investment is real. The return has never been measured.

Until now

  • The written brief that does not exist yet. A complete music strategy covering tempo, genre, cultural register, artist criteria and daypart logic as specific as the visual brand guidelines and as defensible as a positioning document. Includes licensing guidance, provider briefing and the framework every curator, DJ and activation works from. Delivered before the first playlist is chosen.Built to travel, the same brief holds from flagship to franchise, market to market, without drifting.

  • A scored diagnostic of the existing sound environment, what it is communicating, where it contradicts the brand positioning, what the gap between intention and experience actually is. The evidence base that changes the conversation at every level of the business.

  • Planning and directing the sound experience across physical brand environments from the lobby to the restaurant to the rooftop. Working alongside the interior designer, the F&B consultant and the operations team so the music is as considered as everything else in the space. Includes playlist build, provider management and ongoing curation.

  • Artist sourcing, DJ briefing and brand register direction for residencies, events and activations. The DJ works from a brief not a vibe. The cultural layer that connects the brand's music identity to the moments it wants to own.

What does your brand sound like?

Most brands invest heavily in how they look, feel and communicate but few stop to ask what they sound like.

Music is one of the most powerful parts of the guest experience, yet it's often treated as an afterthought. More often than not, brands don't have a music strategy they have playlists.

Whether you're opening a new hotel, refining an existing guest experience, or questioning whether your current sound truly reflects your brand, I'd love to hear what you're working on.

Complimentary 30-minute Brand Sound Review

If you're curious about what your current sound is communicating, let's start with a conversation.

In a relaxed, no-obligation 30 minute call, we'll discuss your current music strategy, what's working well, where there may be gaps, and how music could better support your brand and guest experience.

Book a complimentary Brand Sound Review → matthew@outsound.co