For all variations, there’s one factor that every one Brussels commuters have in frequent.
Consciously or unconsciously, they’re listening to the identical rigorously curated soundtrack whereas swishing by means of the capital’s underground system.
In a metropolis the place lots of of hundreds of journeys happen on daily basis, this provides as much as one thing greater: a shared expertise of Brussels’ life beneath the floor.
“Music has been there because the very starting,” defined Laurent Vermeersch, a spokesman for town’s STIB-MIVB transport operator.
Earlier than town’s full metro system launched in 1976, the pre-metro community had already been taking part in background music in stations as early as 1969.
“It began with what is typically referred to as Muzak,” Vermeersch instructed Euractiv. “It was actually tapes with orchestral-type music being performed in a loop that workers needed to bodily change”.
The time period Muzak – a merger of the phrases music and digicam model Kodak – has been round because the Thirties. It primarily refers back to the sort of background music performed in public areas, retail shops, and elevators.
Tapes have been adopted by compact discs within the Nineteen Nineties, and round 2010, the transport operator moved to a extra fashionable playlist mannequin. Because the Brussels metro turns 50 this 12 months, music is a staple of town’s 4 strains and greater than 60 stations.
“We predict that public transportation is greater than only a place to maneuver individuals,” Vermeersch mentioned.
“Additionally it is part of the general public area that is filled with individuals and tradition, very similar to town itself.” The underground system ceaselessly options artworks, too.
Apart from commuting, many use public transportation to get to town’s cultural choices, similar to museums, occasions, or concert events, he provides.
In 2025, greater than half of Brussels residents (55%) had a seasonal subscription to the community, which additionally contains buses and the tram, in line with operator knowledge. Numbers amongst these beneath 25 surpass the 90% mark, whereas 74% of senior residents are passholders.
“Completely satisfied Metro to you” at Parc Mendelson [Credit: STIB-MIVB]
From Muzak to Miley Cyrus
The every day playlists are curated by an exterior company working alongside STIB-MIVB tips, together with a rule that songs can solely be performed as soon as per day.
The result’s a intentionally broad however nonetheless eclectic mélange. It ranges from worldwide pop and evergreens to a not-insubstantial variety of non-English-language tracks which can be additionally accessible on-line.
“We would like one thing that everybody can roughly recognize,” Vermeersch mentioned. “Like public transport, it’s for everyone, so we’re not taking part in music that’s aggressive, discriminatory or overtly political.”
Typically, STIV-MIVB workers create themed playlists for particular events similar to Belgium’s Nationwide Day, on 21 July. “However it’s occasional, not systematic,” Vermeersch added.
Past playlists, the transport operator permits a hand-selected variety of musicians to play town’s underground by means of the so-called ‘Operation Beethoven’, established nearly twenty years in the past.
“There are designated spots in metro stations the place musicians can play,” he defined, including that these can apply to the programme and are, confidently, invited to audition.
“If they’re profitable, they get a allow for one 12 months.”
For the time being, round 40-50 musicians are allow holders, permitting them to busk. “They earn what they get from commuters,” Vermeersch mentioned. “It’s largely youthful musicians or these doing it as a passion.”
A musician collaborating in ‘Operation Beethoven’ [Credit: STIB-MIVB]
Belgium’s (probably) largest unintentional viewers
With over 140 million metro journeys made final 12 months, the underground system simply reached one in all Belgium’s largest audiences.
Individuals typically attain out to the operator to ask for music titles or simply go away some good phrases, Vermersch mentioned.
However, as with every shared public area or artwork, for that matter, opinions diverge. Although most suggestions STIB-MIVB receives is constructive and even healthful, criticism often does are available in.
“It’s largely associated to the music being too loud or individuals asking why we’re taking part in a sure music,” Vermeersch mentioned, explaining that the sound system well adjusts to quantity based mostly on noise ranges within the stations and arrivals of trains.
When requested whether or not silence had ever been thought-about a greater possibility, he smiled. “No, not that I’m conscious of.”
And even when Brussels’ public transport goes on strike and “runs occasionally”, the soundtrack retains going, nearly uninterrupted.
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