You wrote: > more lute music is to be heard at Ralph's than anywhere else in Southern > California... Probably some studies showed that (low decibel level) early > music can put people in the comfortable (zombie) state conducive to the > happy consomption of supposedly happy (yet now dead) chicken. Or perhaps > copyrights laws have something to do with it.
I'm rarely in Ralphs (and haven't been in Riverside in a decade), so I haven't noticed. But lutes and guitars have always fared well in radio because of studies that show people like plucked string sound. And how many times have you been told that the lute is "relaxing"? A relaxed buyer is less likely to have apoplexy upon noticing raised prices. Copyright has nothing to do with it, since the recordings themselves are protected by copyright. H
