Yes, it was indeed Satie who coined certain pieces of his work “furniture music”. I personally don´t like it that much, but it´s of course historically important as one of the “forefathers” of ambient - whatever is understood under this term nowadays, as Eno once said: “I don´t even recognize ambient music any more.” From the view of a composer the idea of being “as ignorable as it is interesting” (Brian Eno) is a challenge of course. I´m currently working on a couple of ambient pieces, and I have to take care a lot not to miss this thin line between ignorability and interesting. Cheers and peace! Rolf

I like it, but tend to forget it exists until it’s mentioned/played

Furniture music as in elevator music or Muzak ?

I don’t know if I’d put Satie in that category personally !

I think that furniture music has it’s uses and moments. Furniture music isn’t just one genre imo, it’s more based on context. Ambient music was somewhat made to be background music, like Brian Eno’s Music For Airports, but many people listen to it attentively. For example a jazz band playing at a cocktail reception can be background music and a ambient concert can be the main event, and the opposite is true, a jazz gig as the main event and ambient music as a background for an event or exposition. Another example is the lofi hip-hop to study to playlists, great example of furniture music with a purpose.