For airports, background music no longer is an afterthought

SEATAC, Washington (AP) — Background music is no longer an afterthought at many airports, which are hiring local musicians and carefully curating playlists to help lighten travelers’ moods.

London’s Heathrow Airport built a stage to showcase emerging British performers for the first time this summer. The program was so successful the airport hopes to bring it back in 2025. Nashville International Airport has five stages that host more than 800 performances per year, from country musicians to jazz combos. In the Dominican Republic, Punta Cana International Airport greets passengers with live merengue music.

Tiffany Idiart and her two nieces were delighted to hear musicians during a recent layover at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

“I like it. There’s a lot of people here and they can all hear it,” said Grace Idiart, 9. “If their flight got delayed or something like that, they could have had a hard day. And so the music could have made them feel better.”

Airports are also carefully curating their recorded playlists. Detroit Metro Airport plays Motown hits in a tunnel connecting its terminals. Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas has a playlist of local artists compiled by an area radio station. Singapore’s Changi Airport commissioned a special piano accompaniment for its giant digital waterfall.

Music isn’t a new phenomenon in airport terminals. Brian Eno’s “Music for Airports,” an album released in 1978, helped define the ambient music genre. It’s minimalist and designed to calm.

But Barry McPhillips, the head of international creative for Mood Media, which provides music for airports and other public spaces, said technology is enabling background music to be less generic and more tailored to specific places or times of day.

Mood Media – formerly known as Muzak – develops playlists to appeal to business travelers or families depending on who’s in the airport at any given time. It might program calmer music in the security line but something more energizing in the duty-free store.

“We see it as a soundscape,” McPhillips said. “We design for all of these moments.”

There’s a science to Mood Music’s decisions on volume, tempo, even whether to play a song in a major key versus a minor one, he added.

“How do we want to affect their mood at that moment?” McPhillips said. “It’s not just like, ‘Here’s a load of songs.’ It’s a load of songs for that 10-minute segment, and then we move to the next 10 minutes.”

At the same time, many airports are going low-tech, hiring local musicians to serenade travelers and give them a sense of the place they’re passing through.

Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports have more than 100 live performances each year. Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport began a live music program five years ago and now has two stages featuring local artists.

Tami Kuiken, the manager of airport music in Seattle, said the Seattle-Tacoma airport launched its live music program about a decade ago after a city commissioner heard live music at the airport in Austin, Texas.

“The idea was like, ’Man, why doesn’t Seattle have music? We’re a music city too,” Kuiken said.

At first, the airport created a playlist featuring emerging artists along with famous ones like Pearl Jam. Then it decided to try live musicians for a 12-week trial. It was so successful that the airport now features live musicians daily and is building new performance spaces.

“People’s anxiety levels are very high when they’re traveling,” Kuiken said. “The feedback that we started getting was that once they got through the checkpoint and they were greeted with music, all of a sudden their anxiety and stress levels dropped.”

The programs also benefit musicians, who get paid to perform and gain wider exposure. When Colorado Springs Airport announced a live music program in March, more than 150 musicians applied. It now hosts two two-hour performances each week.

David James, a singer and guitarist who plays at Seattle’s airport about once a week, said waking up in time for a daytime gig took some adjustment. But he’s gained new fans from all over the world.

“I get really sweet responses from people all the time, saying, ‘That was so soothing to be able to just sit and listen to music in between flights,’” James said. “So it feels like it’s especially therapeutic for people.”

Country stars like Blake Shelton and Keith Urban have come through Nashville's airport and interacted with local musicians, said Stacey Nickens, the airport's vice president of corporate communications and marketing. Shelton even gave one his guitar.

Otto Stuparitz, a musicologist and lecturer at the University of Amsterdam who has studied airport music, said airports should think carefully about their selections. Music that’s meant to be actively listened to – like live music or catchy pop songs – can be very distracting in an already chaotic environment, he said. He has noticed some airports – especially in Europe -- turning off piped melodies altogether.

But McPhillips said big spaces like airports can feel cold and unwelcoming without background music.

“A well-crafted audio strategy is one that people aren’t particularly cognizant of,” he said. “They just know they’re having a good time and that it’s appropriate.”

Durbin reported from Detroit.

Roz McCommon performs amid travelers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on November 26, 2024, in SeaTac, Wash. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

CORRECTS SPELLING OF SINGERS LAST NAME TO MCCOMMON - Roz McCommon sings at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on November 26, 2024, in SeaTac, Wash. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

CORRECTS SPELLING OF SINGERS LAST NAME TO MCCOMMON - Roz McCommon performs amid travelers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on November 26, 2024, in SeaTac, Wash. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

Roz McCommon, center, performs amid travelers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on November 26, 2024, in SeaTac, Wash. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

Roz McCommon performs at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on November 26, 2024, in SeaTac, Wash. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is pledging to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% by 2035 as he fights to ensure his legacy on slowing global warming, even as President-elect Donald Trump vows to undo much of Biden's climate work when he takes office next month.

Biden said the new goal — which supersedes a previous plan to cut carbon emissions at least in half by 2030 — keeps the United States on track to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide by 2050. The U.S. is making a formal submission of the new target, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution, to the United Nations under terms of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, Biden said Thursday.

The new goal calls for reducing net emissions by 61% to 66% below 2005 levels in 2035.

“I’m proud that my administration is carrying out the boldest climate agenda in American history,'' Biden said in a videotaped statement.

“We’re doing it by setting ambitious goals'' such as deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind and conserving at least 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030, Biden said. His administration also has set strict new standards to cut air pollution from cars, trucks and power plants and signed into law the most significant investments in climate and clean energy in U.S. history, he said.

The action by the Democratic president comes just over a month before he is set to leave office. Trump has already promised to unleash a series of executive actions that will seek to undo most or all of Biden's climate agenda as the Republican president-elect pushes for “energy dominance” around the globe.

Trump no longer dismisses climate change as a “hoax” but has pledged to dismantle what he calls Democrats’ “green new scam” in favor of boosting production of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal, the main causes of climate change. Trump is expected to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, as he did during his first term, and will likely move to repeal parts of the landmark Inflation Reduction Act, especially subsidies that benefit electric vehicles and offshore wind.

Biden aides tried to downplay the impact of Trump's return to the White House, insisting that states and local governments can continue to lead on clean energy.

“American climate leadership is determined by so much more than whoever sits in the Oval Office,'' said John Podesta, Biden's senior adviser for international climate policy.

Climate leadership “happens on the ground in our cities and states, from Phoenix to Pittsburgh, from Boise to Baltimore,'' Podesta told reporters Wednesday. “And I believe that with this new 2035 target as their North Star, leaders across America can show the world that we are still in this fight for a better future."

Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that in his first term, Trump “produced affordable, reliable energy for consumers along with stable, high-paying jobs for small businesses — all while dropping U.S. carbon emissions to their lowest level in 25 years. In his second term, President Trump will once again deliver clean air and water for American families while Making America Wealthy Again.”

While carbon emissions dropped around the world in 2020, that was largely due to the economic shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Air travel and other activity came to a near standstill.

The U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of governors that support climate action, pledged to work toward the new target, with or without help from the White House.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, the alliance's co-chair, said climate-conscious governors “will carry the torch forward'' after Biden leaves office. Hochul, a Democrat, said governors will use the new U.S. goal to “keep America on track toward a cleaner, safer future.”

“By continuing to stamp out climate pollution together, we’re safeguarding public health, protecting the environment, growing the economy and creating good jobs across the U.S,” said New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, another alliance co-chair.

Biden, in his remarks, called the new goal “ambitious” and said it would lead to thousands of well-paying jobs, more affordable energy, cleaner air, cleaner water and a healthier environment for all Americans.

“It is also creating real momentum because we’re unleashing American ingenuity and innovation. And together, we will turn this existential threat into a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform our nation'' for decades to come, Biden said. “I know we can do this.''

The proposal would require sustained changes across the economy, from power generation to transportation, buildings, agriculture and industry, including significant increases in renewable energy such as wind and solar power and steep cuts in emissions from fossil fuels such as oil and coal.

The U.S. pledge includes methane reductions of at least 35% from 2005 levels by 2035, Biden said. Cutting methane emissions is among the fastest ways to reduce near-term warming and is crucial to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Debbie Weyl, U.S. acting director of the World Resources Institute, a global research organization, said the new emissions target is “at the lower bound of what the science demands," but said it was “close to the upper bound of what is realistic if nearly every available policy lever were pulled" in the next decade.

“Assertive action by states and cities will be essential to achieving this goal,'' she said, adding that the United States needs to swiftly expand renewable energy and electric vehicles, modernize the electric grid and decarbonize heavy industry.

The nonbinding but symbolically important pledge is a key part of the Paris agreement, which calls for countries to submit so-called Nationally Determined Contributions every five years. A country’s NDC, or climate goal, outlines how it plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help meet the global goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times.

The Paris Agreement requires that NDCs are updated every five years with increasingly higher ambition, taking into consideration each country’s capacity. The next deadline is February 2025, although Brazil, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates have already submitted their proposed NDCs.

“As the world’s largest producer of oil, the largest producer and exporter of fossil gas — and the largest historical climate polluter — the United States has an outsized responsibility to press forward in the climate fight no matter the political headwinds,'' said Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a leading environmental group.

He called the new climate goal a clear signal for governors, mayors and CEOs who support climate action to “step up" and defend climate progress.

“While the incoming administration has vowed to turn its back on the world — again — the majority of Americans want climate action, and the clean energy boom is unstoppable," Bapna said.

Associated Press writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report.

FILE - President Joe Biden meets with President-elect Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

President Joe Biden speaks during a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks during a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Dec. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr., File)