233 | Musical Tasting Menu

Kurt Oleson is the Chief Operating Officer and co-owner of Custom Channels, a Denver-based company delivering fully licensed, human-curated music solutions for hotels and restaurants. A classically trained pianist turned music technologist, he helped build early music-recommendation algorithms before joining his company. Susan and Kurt talk about licensing landmines and algorithmic ethics.

What You'll Learn:
• Why playing Spotify in your restaurant could cost you $10,000 per song
• How performance and composition licenses protect artists
• How following "passion-adjacent opportunities" can shape an unexpected career
• The upside and ethical gray areas of algorithm-driven music discovery
• Why human-curated playlists still outperform AI in hospitality settings
• How tempo, energy, and traffic patterns should shape your daily music flow
• How many songs you actually need to avoid repetition
• Why commoditizing music undermines its impact on your brand

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Our Top Three Takeaways

Music isn't background noise—it's a business tool.
When aligned with traffic patterns, brand identity, and desired guest behavior, audio can increase dwell time, improve turnover, and even become a profit center.

Playing unlicensed music is a massive legal and financial risk.
One audit could mean fines of up to $10,000 per song, making proper licensing non-negotiable for hospitality operators.

Human-curated music is still a competitive advantage.
AI can assist with scheduling and context triggers, but brand-aligned, emotionally intelligent curation drives better guest experiences.

Kurt Oleson on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurtoleson1/

Custom Channels
https://www.custom-channels.com/

Cayuga Hospitality Consultants
https://cayugahospitality.com/

Hive Marketing
https://www.hive-marketing.com/

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