The Revitalist

The site design for 246 W17 features a pop-y soundtrack, cartoon people and a refreshing color scheme, all in an effort to attract youthful, diverse and easygoing residents.

Would you rather live in cool jazz or classical strings or soothing Electronica? The NY Times has noticed that more and more high end condo websites are using music to set the mood and attract potential buyers. The music is meant to work in concert with the images and text on the site to convey a sense of the place and to subtly screen customers. Classical music tends to skew older and more traditional, jazz is young and modern but not too young, electronica invites swinging singles. Not surprisingly, very few sites feature rock or pop music, although the article does mention 246w17.com, which not only features a "B-52's meets 'Sesame Street'" soundtrack, but also bouncing cartoon people. (Really, it's cooler than it sounds.) But personally my favorite part of the article is where a professor of music says that sites featuring the vague world-lounge genre tap into "a profound fantasy of cosmopolitanism."