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Sonos is a leading American audio technology company that is best known for pioneering wireless multi-room audio systems, which make it easy for listeners to stream music and other content throughout their homes. The company continues to innovate, creating wireless speakers, home theatre systems, headphones, architectural components, and integrated home audio solutions that revolutionize how people listen and connect to sound.

Guest Writer

2020 might be the strangest year in recent memory, but we’ve seen first-hand how powerful music can be in helping us get through adversity. As New Year’s Eve approaches, new research by our teams across Europe shows that even if our party plans might have changed this year, there’s still plenty to celebrate.

Whoever you are and wherever you live, 2020 has undoubtedly been a year defined by upheaval and uncertainty. But it hasn’t all been doom and gloom. As this year ends, it’s vital to celebrate the collective resilience, creativity, and optimism which has flourished despite the challenges we’ve faced.

When the clock counts down on New Year’s Eve and we consign 2020 to the past, how will we feel when those complicated emotions rush to the surface? The answers offered by scientific experts and new Europe-wide research suggest a brighter and more optimistic picture than you might expect, underpinned by the collective energy and connection that music can generate.

Research commissioned by Sonos teams across Europe shows that half of all European adults are planning some form of celebration to see in the New Year, ranging from 69% of people in party-mad Denmark to a somewhat less enthusiastic 33% in the UK. 47% of people say that it’s more important than ever to celebrate the New Year after surviving this torturous year, rising to 57% of 18 to 24 year olds across the continent.

In a year where our social relationships have been especially constricted, it’s unsurprising to see that we’re desperate for interpersonal connection. While three-quarters of people tell us that they’ll be seeing in 2021 at home, interesting guests and a good party atmosphere remain central to their NYE plans.

Of course, what we listen to while we celebrate is just as important, and 68% of people say that music will be an integral part of their celebrations, with more than half believing that the right playlist can make or break a houseparty.

Pop music reigns supreme on 62% of playlists, with particularly devoted fans in Austria and Denmark. Dance music is the go-to soundtrack in Poland, while Italians opt for hip hop. If you’re ringing in the New Year in France or Spain, odds are you’ll be listening to R&B or indie respectively. More rarefied listeners in Austria display a taste for classical, while the Dutch are least likely to listen to music at all this New Year.

And what about the songs we’re planning to play when the clock strikes midnight? It seems that the old classics win out here, with 41% of people going for “I Want To Break Free” by Queen—its lyrics perhaps a reflection of the pressures we’ve all faced this year. The similarly optimistic “Happy New Year” by Abba and “Freedom” by George Michael round out our Top 3, followed by uplifting classics from U2, Ray Charles, and Journey. The newest entry on our NYE chart is Ariana Grande with “Thank U, Next” - another song about accepting the past and focusing on the positive.

Intriguingly, just under 50% of people across Europe think that a good playlist can make someone more attractive, and over a quarter admit to hooking up with someone at a party based on shared musical taste, crucial information if you’re hoping to end up under the mistletoe with that special someone this year. Although you might be better off trying in Poland or Spain, where two-thirds of people say kissing someone at midnight is important, compared to Italy where barely a third agree. (So much for that romantic reputation…)

How sound brings us together: “Being connected is everything.”

But music’s importance isn’t just about partying or making out. Professor Hauke Egermann, who researches the psychological effects of music at the University of York, says that music has been a crucial social tool for withstanding the mess 2020 has thrown at us.

“Music creates experiences that are appropriate to the current situation but that are linked back to our past experiences, our experience of other times which we might miss at the moment. We've done a bit of research during the first British lockdown in the spring into how listening to nostalgic music is associated with increased well-being: using music as a tool helps people to feel well and cope with their situation.”

Our research mirrors these findings, with four out of five people agreeing that listening to music lifts their spirits. The specific details vary across countries though: 49% of Poles plan to listen to more positive tunes in 2021, while for 36% of Spaniards singing along with friends is the key factor in their enjoyment.

For Harry Gay and his housemates, the pressures of lockdown helped inspire new digital forms of musical connection. Streamed live from their New Cross flat every Friday night, Queer House Party aims to bring solidarity and release to the LGBTQ+ community.

“The thing about music is that it brings us this really basic human feeling of just… being,” he says. “Just dancing and not caring, listening to the same song and having the same experience. If you play a song that you know everyone loves, you'll have 50 little squares on your laptop with everyone absolutely going for it. The people can see that, and it’s like they're dancing together. It just makes people feel more connected.”

“Especially for the LGBTQ+ community, being connected is everything,” Harry continues. “It's so important to be able to see yourself in others and be surrounded by like-minded people. I think the parties and music are definitely a way to rebuild that sense of community.”

That need for collective experience isn’t surprising in a year like 2020. Athina Karatzogianni, whose research focuses on the social impact of technological transformations, defines the last 12 months with a single word: rupture. “This year has been a rupture in the way we live, relate, how we exist in the world. How we socialize, how we entertain ourselves, how we work, or form relationships with our family and friends”.

Athina locates that general sense of rupture, and the impact of COVID, alongside the waves of political protest that have continued to ripple across the globe this year, from anti-mask protesters to Extinction Rebellion’s environmental activism, and Black Lives Matter challenging systemic racism. “With all this civil disobedience, direct action and so on taking place, there’s been a real question around how citizenship works, bringing discussions about what it means to be a good citizen into the mainstream”.

Again, music plays a huge role in resolving these questions and offering us a way forward, through its vital role at the heart of our rituals and celebrations.

“It’s human nature to produce memories which signify an important moment. If every day is the same, people lose their impetus to want to live for the next occasion. Part of human experience is about rewarding yourself, celebrating achievements.” says Athina. “I think this New Year will be about surviving the year more than anything else. You won't have these bigger parties, concerts and things that we used to have, but music will become an even more important element than it was before”.

The destabilizing forces Athina’s research focuses on don’t only operate at the macro level, with global political movements and changes of governments, but at the micro level in our personal relationships and interactions.

Bella DePaulo is a social psychologist based at the University of California, and the author of How We Live Now. Her research suggests that 2020’s wider disruptions can have even a deeper emotional impact when our personal lives are so disjointed.

“This year has created issues around how to communicate. Relationships that were just starting don't get off the ground, relationships get fraught over things that weren’t an issue before, like getting left out of support bubbles.”

But DePaulo also suggests reasons for optimism. “There's all the good stuff too, some of which is surprising. There are people who talk about becoming closer to their family members, for example. They might have set up a recurring meeting on Zoom or some other way of being in touch, even if it’s just a discussion of what's going on in their lives.”

Home listening: Why sound (and sound quality) has become more personal this year

The concept of home recurs repeatedly in DePaulo and other experts’ work. In a year where many of us have been working from home for months on end, it’s increasingly important that our domestic spaces are comforting, enjoyable, and reinvigorating. Finding the right soundtrack is a key part of that, she says

“If you're spending more time working on your own, you can do things that you couldn't do in a shared office space, like play the music that you love. You can really create a comforting space in all senses of the word, not just visually, but also the sounds.”

Professor Hauke Egermann agrees that sound is an increasingly fundamental part of how we understand our homes, and by extension ourselves, and that how we listen has shifted this year. “The overall functionality of music changed in 2020,” he says. “If you think about typical music listening scenarios, some of them don’t really apply anymore: the commute to work, social listening in larger contexts at parties. So, it will be a different kind of listening that's more personal.”

This is borne out by our research across Europe: 89% of people say they’d rather listen to music at home than in a club, while more than three quarters are planning to do precisely that for New Year’s Eve, staying at home to celebrate rather than going out. 45% of 18 to 24 year olds have said that they don’t care if they annoy their neighbours while stuck at home, which suggests that the early hours of 2021 might be soundtracked not only by the latest club beats, but also by a few noise complaints.

If how we listen has become more important, then so has what we’re listening on, with 52% of people saying that they value sound quality. “Music is just so much more a part of your everyday life now,” says DePaulo. “So if you can do it, it's worth investing in a higher quality experience. Because it's not just something that you try to fit in between running to the office and back, it's there all the time. It's your home.”

Those themes continue into 2021. While our research shows that a third of Europeans are planning to spend less money than in the past, they’re still optimistic about being healthier and happier in the coming year. Just over half are planning to listen to more relaxing music, and a similar number list entertaining at home, with music of course, as a priority for the year ahead.

Reassuringly, one infamous aspect of every good houseparty remains stubbornly unaffected by the upheavals of 2020: 46% of people say that the next time they’re celebrating, they still expect to end up chatting in the kitchen. Even in a year defined by instability and uncertainty, it seems some things never change.

The Sound of 2020: How Listening Has Given Us Hope In A Year Of Upheaval

Corporate Social Responsibility Lead

Our Corporate Social Responsibility lead Deji Olukotun shares how Sonos is adjusting our philanthropy efforts to address a rapidly evolving landscape for nonprofits, whose work is simultaneously at risk and more in need than ever, and how you can help make an impact this Giving Tuesday.

At Sonos, listening better includes making adjustments to our giving strategy based on what we hear from the communities where we live and work. In 2018, we decided to concentrate our philanthropic efforts on supporting youth music education around the world through a program called 

. Over the past two years, the initiative has provided children in need with opportunities to think creatively, raise academic achievement, develop social skills, and prepare for successful futures. We are thrilled with the results of the initiative and are proud of the work we’ve done with these incredible organizations.

The past year has been marked by unprecedented social, environmental, and economic upheaval in every community. It’s affected all of us. Over 40% of US adults reported adverse mental health issues in June—more than double the number for 2018

—with Black, Latinx, and Indigenous groups disproportionately affected. At the same time, we’ve been deeply inspired by acts of bravery, resilience, and hope as people have confronted difficult situations and helped heal their families and neighbours.

The world has changed, and we need to as well. We need to do more. We responded to the racial justice crisis by matching employee donations to the Emergency Fund for Racial Justice, and to COVID-19 by producing over 30,000 face shields and giving to artistic organizations in need.

And we continue to believe in the power of music to effect positive change. So, we’ve decided to expand Soundwaves to include causes that use 

. We are excited to welcome nine new nonprofits to the Soundwaves family. These organizations all have one thing in common—they create positive change and build strength in communities through the power of music.

To kick things off, we are donating 10% of our revenue from Giving Tuesday

 to these new organizations. (And speakers too, of course.) Additionally, through 

, our free to use streaming music service, we’re donating ad space to nonprofits to raise awareness about the amazing work they do.

40.9% of US adults polled by the CDC in June reported at least one adverse mental or behavioural health condition, up from 19.1% in 2018 -- a 114% increase in adverse mental or behavioural health conditions in the general public.

Musicians battle mental health conditions at a 4 times the rate of the general population. 45% of Jazz Foundation of America clients live below the poverty line.

, creating calming music for children's hospitals and other stressful environments, and theatre plays that provoke conversations about health care

, providing free bedside concerts to hospitalized COVID-19 patients

, using music therapy to promote healing in the Netherlands

, empowering diverse young people to express their creativity through music and multimedia

*, teaching youth sound design and beatmaking on a double-decker bus in distressed neighbourhoods in London

, providing medical care and mental wellness support to Seattle area musicians

, offering social services and medical care to indigent jazz musicians

, an organization teaching music to youth and using technology to build innovative and accessible new instruments for people with disabilities

, providing free guitars and music lessons to veterans suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder

*United Borders is a previous Sonos Soundwaves grantee.

We remain steadfastly committed to our focus on music education, which remains a central part of our social impact work. And, I hope you’ll join me in welcoming this new group of nonprofits dedicated to creating healing and resilience through the power of music. I encourage you to visit their websites or follow them on social media to learn more about their work and how you can help.

Why We Are Making Changes to Our Social Impact Efforts

Global Head of Editorial

Explore the local music scenes of Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the UK through six new Sonos Radio stations curated by resident experts, and see what else you can discover on Sonos Radio HD, the ultimate radio experience.

When you visit another country, you get to meet it.
When you live in another country, you get to know it.
And when you listen to its music, you get to love it.

 to be a way for listeners to explore not just music culture, but radio culture too,” said Joe Dawson, Head of Sonos Radio. “You can learn so much about a place by listening to its music. And how that music is presented on a radio station can deepen your understanding of a culture even further.” With this in mind, Dawson and the rest of the Sonos Radio team sought out local collaborators in a handful of key countries to create six new stations exclusively for Sonos Radio. “We worked with our local partners to understand things like when people listened to the radio and what sort of music curation would either fill a gap or complement existing stations. Ultimately, we wanted to create stations that spoke to the music of the country in a unique way.”

The results of these collaborations span both genres and geography. To introduce you to the new stations, we’ve asked each local curator to share a bit about how they approached programming and what you can expect when you listen.

"The opportunity to curate a station for Sonos, solely based on British Beats & Bars, is honestly a dream come true. The whole reason why I walked down my career path was really due to my love of finding new, exciting music and sharing that with people. I feel part of my purpose is to do my best in representing Black music and its culture, specifically from the UK. It's a privilege to be collaborating with Sonos on this new genre station, giving a platform to a whole host of artists representing the United Kingdom right now, and the wide breadth of exciting genres that are galvanizing people, including grime, drill, Afrobeats, hip hop, and everything in between. I hope that with this, Sonos can play a part in introducing some of the UK’s best, whether underground or mainstream, to a global audience, and show the world what Britain is about. It's an exciting time for the Black diaspora around the world, and music is one of the things that can connect us. I just hope everyone enjoys tuning in!"
—Scully

British Beats & Bars. The best of UK grime, rap, hip hop, and Afrobeats from breakthrough artists and producers.

“German Zeitgeist is a loving reflection of German pop culture. From Marlene Dietrich to Majan, Ton Steine Scherben to Nena. German Zeitgeist offers a hand-picked, wide musical horizon with many rare pieces and surprises in store—even for the biggest nerds.”
—Sepalot

German Zeitgeist. Singer-songwriter triumphs from both celebrated artists and up-and-comers.

“French Connection is a 360° journey in the world of French song, from the twentieth century to now. A radio without pop bubblegum, it mixes legends from the past and discoveries from the today. A wide musical palette, in French language, of authors, composers, and interpreters who make up the diversity of the local scene, from the most prestigious voices recognized internationally to the young generation concerned (like its predecessors) with the quality of its texts, whether poetic, committed, absurd, lyrical, profound, or literary. This eclectic and cross-generational selection also underlines the diversity of artists drawing from classical as well as rock, jazz, electronic music, urban music and even world music. From Georges Brassens to Clara Luciani, Serge Gainsbourg to Philippe Katerine, Alain Bashung to Feu! Chatterton, French Connection highlights the influences, legacies, and links between past and present songwriters.”

French Connection. Everything from legendary chanteuses to a new wave of alternative French artists.

“Being a musician I listen to music all the time, so being able to collaborate with Sonos Radio in curating a listening journey that introduces you to all my friends and favourites popping off in the UK jazz scene has been a proper vibe. On Session Sounds, I’ve focused on really championing the artists and musicians who have become a staple part of the live music community, forming the pillars of a thriving creative scene in the UK right now. My approach in building this station was thinking about the listener, and curating it as a place of discovery for newcomers, but also a place for those already familiar who just want to hang out in a zone with their favourites. I delved into the past, present, and ones to watch, creating a listening experience that interweaves genres and scenes with live vocals, live beats, live bars, and all the bleeps and squeaks in between. I wanted to showcase the distinct styles and artists that have evolved in Britain over the last 20 years—from jazz standards to crossover sounds, from soul, rap, indie, and hip hop to instrumental music at the forefront of popular music today. I think of Session Sounds as an invitation to a vibey, guided tour throughout London and the other regions. This station is where you can connect the dots and reflect on the influence of a new UK jazz culture through compelling, experimental artists and musicians shaping the new ‘instrumentation’ scene.”
—Kwake Bass

Session Sounds. UK's thriving underground scene, featuring jazz-inspired soul, hip hop, and electronica.

“I have very much enjoyed curating Radio à Gogo, the first original station on Sonos Radio developed with the Dutch listener in mind. The station has that perfect mix of jazz, rock 'n roll, disco, Motown, pop, R&B, and much more. To curate the station I did a deep dive into my own archives and hand-picked forgotten classics by great artists, then mixed that with modern day bands that have proven to be more than one-hit wonders. Radio à Gogo features artists who change(d) the world of music, bringing inspiration for generations to come. Every day, Radio à Gogo brings a continuous stream of influential artists and music that tells a story. Mixed with home-grown talent especially for our Dutch listeners, Radio à Gogo has plenty of hidden gems, all time favourites, and some Dutch delights to discover!”
—Sander de Heer

Radio à Gogo. Top international pop gems and under-the-radar Dutch hits from the 1960s to today.

“Hip hop and rap in Germany have long since outgrown their infancy. Never before has this genre been as diverse and present as it is today. While there have been times the genre was part of an underground youth culture, the Top 100 chart is no longer imaginable without ‘chanting’ [hip hop and rap songs] from Germany. Hip Hop Stammtisch gathers the complete musical range of 25 years of the genre.”
—DJ Buzz-T

Hip Hop Stammtisch. The evolution of Deutschrap from late 80s and early 90s to current chart-toppers.

Want to listen ad-free and in high definition? Sonos Radio HD delivers your favourite stations in lossless, CD-quality audio—the highest quality sound of any radio streaming service. Plus, you’ll get access to an expanded catalog of original stations, sounds for sleep and relaxation, and more in-depth artist content, kicking off with Songteller Radio, curated by the world’s most beloved entertainer, Dolly Parton.

“I had so much fun getting to share little stories and tidbits from the songs that have made up my life and career,” Parton said. “My new radio station brings to life my favourite music and stories, similar to those that readers will explore in my first lyric book, Songteller, as well as my new Christmas album, A Holly Dolly Christmas. It always excites me to reach my fans—and hopefully new listeners too.”

Exclusively on Sonos Radio HD, Songteller Radio will continually evolve with Parton’s hits, favourite artists, and special commentary on songs and moments throughout her career.

Sonos Radio was created as a way of bringing music discovery and enjoyment to your Sonos system. And now with our internationally curated stations, an opportunity to remember what it’s like to stumble upon a music venue that’s off the beaten path, alive with the energy of a burgeoning music movement. Sonos Radio and Sonos Radio HD are now playing.

Travel Abroad With Six New Stations on Sonos Radio

While the Emmy-winning score Ludwig Göransson composed for 

 is meant to evoke the lone man’s journey, his own path has been enriched by long-term friendships (Ryan Coogler, Donald Glover), fruitful collaborations (Jon Favreau, Christopher Nolan), and an eagerness to incorporate an international array of musical cultures, styles, and expressions into his life and work. From embracing organic, tactile instruments he learned to play as a child to collaborating with Sonos’s engineering team to tune Arc, Göransson is passionate about all aspects of sound. His new station on Sonos Radio, Things That Stuck, debuts today. In this interview, he shares what inspired his station, how he knew he was going to win the Academy Award moments before his name was called, and why he’s so excited for Season 2 of 

The moment he finally heard the orchestra play the score he’d written for the first season of 

 was a special one for Ludwig Göransson. “With the orchestra, it’s the first time that it comes to life,” he said. “You have 70 or 80 of the best musicians in the world playing together, breathing together, putting their efforts into their instruments. And that’s when it starts to feel human.” Up until that moment, he’d cultivated the music mostly on his own, tending to it like a caregiver. In the case of 

, he worked on the score for seven months before sessions with the orchestra began. There were lofty expectations. The music for the first live-action 

 series needed to complement Jon Favreau’s unique vision for the show, while also standing alongside John Williams’s revered score for the original films. So the moment when it all came together with an orchestra was significant. “I think it's the closest I will get to delivering a baby,” he said.

Like much of Göransson’s career, what happened next is more collaborative. “One of the most fun parts of the process is being in the room with the orchestra and shaping it into something you didn't know existed, something you didn't think it could sound like,” he said. “You can take an idea and—if you work with a great orchestra—you can give them the story and tell them what the music is supposed to mean and then you hear it shape their performance.”

 universe has defined “the future” since Göransson was a kid. But when it came time for him to score for 

, he intentionally chose a more organic approach. “I wanted to connect with the feeling I had as a kid when I watched 

 for the first time,” he said. “The only way to come back to that feeling was to step away from the computer and use real instruments, instruments I could touch.” Göransson started with one familiar to many who took a music class in school—the bass woodwind recorder. “It had this really unique sound that I was instantly drawn to,” he said. “So I started improvising on that for a day and those are the very first notes you hear in 

Based on his initial conversations with Favreau, Göransson knew the series should sound evocative of a lone journeyer. So, Göransson went on a journey himself, spending hours alone in a studio filled with instruments. “I wanted the music to be very direct and intimate. And I wanted it to feel small in the beginning. After arriving at the recorder riff, I got the idea to put a heartbeat under it. So I went to the drum and added a heartbeat sound. Next I went to the piano and wrote the bassline. Then I went to my electric guitar and wrote the first melody with some distortion. I basically was closed off in my studio for a month, jumping from instrument to instrument.”

While music is integral to any property in the 

 universe, it’s even more critical in context of 

. “The score is the facial expressions of the Mandalorian,” Göransson said. “You never see his face because he's always covered with a helmet. You only hear his voice and see his body language. So the score is extremely important in telling the story of what he's feeling.”

To ensure that his score blended seamlessly with the high-tech look and feel of the series, Göransson worked closely with the sound team. “To me, sound and music go hand in hand,” he said. “With today’s technology, we can manipulate sounds. We can take something that everyone's familiar with, like the clanking of the Mandalorian’s boots, for example, and we can turn that into a music element. There's so many ways to use new technology with sound and turn sounds into music, which gives the listeners and audience a new and different experience, something they’ve never heard before.”

Göransson’s own excitement for the second season of the series is palpable. “We’re going to go to so many more places,” he said. “We're going to meet so many new characters and see things we've never seen or experienced before. So you know you’re about to go on a really fun ride.”

One of Göransson’s first big jobs in Hollywood was scoring the NBC series 

. While working on the show, he became close with Donald Glover, one of the stars of the series. Glover was impressed by Göransson’s classical and jazz background and they started working together on music for Glover’s alter ego, Childish Gambino. The collaboration would go on to net four Grammys for the song “This Is America” and its accompanying music video.

Besides winning him awards, the breadth of Göransson’s oeuvre has also had a major influence on his unique film scores. “I bring insights from everything I do into scoring. There are ideas in producing a record, for example, that I can bring with me into films. I like how you can blend worlds together and make it feel new.”

The partnership that would eventually result in Göransson’s Academy Award began even earlier than his collaboration with Glover. While attending USC’s screen scoring program, Göransson connected with director and fellow USC student Ryan Coogler over a game of pool at a party. The two hit it off while discussing their favourite Swedish hip-hop artists and Coogler asked Göransson to score his student film 

. Göransson would go on to score two more Coogler films that were more high-profile: 2013’s 

. Göransson said, “I've been fortunate that every project I work on, I get to learn so many new things. I’m inspired by something new each time. For example, on 

, I didn't only learn new music, but I also learned about the meaning of music in relationship to African culture. I made lifelong friends with a lot of the performers that played on the score that I'm still talking to every week, learning what music means to them. Music has brought me so many new friendships and opened up my world in ways I never could have expected.”

 earned him his first Oscar. Although completely surprised by the honour, he had the tiniest inkling that the statuette would be his moments before his name was called. “The people giving out the award were Tessa Thompson and Michael B. Jordan, who I'd worked with on 

,” he said, referring to the 2015 film he scored. “I actually remember I saw their reaction when they opened the envelope so I had a hint that I won. It was surreal.”

“The station is, in a way, the amalgamation of the musical experiences that have led me to this moment in my journey as an artist,” Göransson said, referring to his new station on 

, Things That Stuck. Göransson’s wide-ranging taste in music made him a perfect fit to curate a station for Sonos Radio. “What’s been so important to me is that I've been introduced to so many different genres, styles, and kinds of music from all different parts of the world,” he said. “And I think I was open to that because I met people that I created a bond with, and when you create a bond with someone, you listen to what they have to say in a different way. I listened to their music and it helped shape me into the composer I am and the person I’ve become.” He continues, “So there's all different genres of music on Things That Stuck and it's a bit all over the place. And I guess that tells you something about the music that I'm writing, too. I’m trying to cross genres and combine different instruments you’re not particularly used to. I love experimenting with that.”

Things That Stuck offers up a blend of the music that has influenced Göransson’s work, artists he’s produced, and the songs that have inspired him personally. The station ranges from classical, jazz, and film scores to indie and hard rock. “It's the sounds and songs and melodies that are stuck in my hippocampus,” he said. “It's part of my language. It's things that, from the beginning, were passed to me through my father because that's how I got introduced to music. Also, songs and artists from social experiences, like meeting friends, having a band, or sitting with my best friend, playing music for each other in the living room or the car because that’s where the good sound system was.” Upon its wider release, the second season soundtrack from 

 will debut on Things That Stuck, alongside exclusive behind-the-scenes commentary from Göransson.

Göransson’s long-standing relationship with Sonos is rooted in his appreciation for sound. “So much of the experience when you watch a film is in the sound, obviously,” he said. “I learned that through a lot of the directors I work with, how important the sound is to them. And that's really been affecting my career too.” While near the final stages of tuning 

, Sonos invited Göransson to offer his feedback on how our newest soundbar was handling his Oscar-winning score for 

. Göransson wanted to first hone in on one particular scene—the fight scene at the waterfall between T’Challa and Killmonger. “It was one of the most complicated scenes I remember mixing at the dub station,” he said. “You have a thunderous, bass-heavy waterfall going on throughout the whole fight, hundreds of people in the audience, the score, and sound effects throughout the whole scene. So how can you make all those sounds distinct? ]While testing out Arc, we played that scene over and over again and it was interesting how the Sonos engineers could make adjustments to Arc on the spot. In the end, it felt to me like there was a real waterfall behind the TV and the music was out in front. It came together in a way I haven't heard before on a TV.”

In addition to hearing Göransson’s score throughout the second season of 

, you can also hear his music in Christopher Nolan’s 

. Like many of his collaborations before, Göransson established a common language and trust with the celebrated director through music. “With 

, I read the script and then I had a meeting with Chris [Nolan] where I got to ask him a bunch of stuff,” he said. “One of the things that we did in our first meeting was to play music for each other—he played music that had inspired him and I played music that inspired me throughout my life. Having that conversation and playing music was extremely helpful in getting to know each other. And that became the foundation of our collaboration.”

While he doesn’t have an orchestra at his disposal when he’s at home, music infuses his personal life as well. “There's always music in our house. My wife Serena is a violinist and she's always playing or we're playing songs for our one-year-old,” he said. “Music is constantly talked about and around us all the time.”

Experience the vivid musical landscape inside Ludwig Göransson’s head by listening to Things That Stuck, now available on Sonos Radio. And watch the new season of 

Things That Stuck: The Mandalorian’s Composer on the Second Season and His New Sonos Radio Station

Today, we introduce a new colour for Move: Lunar White. The hue represents months of research, formulating, and testing. It also exemplifies a key tenet of the Sonos experience—that all our products work together as part of a system not only technically but also aesthetically. It was up to Kitty Suidman, Sonos’ Design Director of Color, Material, Finish, and her team of experts to find a lighter tone that would allow Move to seamlessly transition between the indoors and outdoors, while still harmonizing with the rest of the Sonos system. Find out how her international upbringing and life-long obsession with colour prepared her to identify the perfect shade.

Choosing the colour of our speakers is anything but elementary. So Kitty Suidman approaches the challenge with equal amounts of inspiration and technical expertise. Born in the Netherlands, Suidman spent 20 years in Asia before returning to her native country to attend industrial design school. During her studies, she realized that she was more drawn to colours and materials than industrial design. Daring to follow a divergent path, she graduated with a unique portfolio that equipped her to construct a rich and varied career spanning Philips Design, Motorola, and T-Mobile. Since joining Sonos seven years ago, she’s developed a rigorous yet thoughtful approach to colour, rooted in deep technical knowledge that extends into chemistry and manufacturing processes. Her nuanced description of how her team landed on Move’s new shade illuminates how Sonos’ custom colours enable our speakers to seamlessly blend into your home—both indoors and out.

How would you describe Sonos’ approach to product colour?

Our approach to colour starts with our approach to design. And design is about finding solutions to problems. Let’s take Move as an example. As our first portable product, our problem was finding a colour that allowed Move to blend in with a variety of different environments. More generally though, it’s important that we deliver colour that feels timeless and versatile, something that will last for a long time. We make products that endure, and colour is a part of that equation.

When I first joined, our products incorporated metallic finishes in addition to colour. For example, both the black and white versions of the Play:1 have a silver grille. Starting with the second-generation Play:5, we set out to create clean, simple aesthetics by finishing the product in a single colour. We want our speakers to feel less like technology in your home and more like simple, beautiful objects.

How does Sonos decide which colours to use?

It’s really a simple strategic choice. Our goal is to find colour solutions that blend into their environments. White has a history in the home. Black has a history in audio. Our vision was to create a simplified colour language that is relevant to the way our owners live.

So if you were to put a white Sonos One and Beam next to each other, are they the exact same colour?

No, that’s where my job gets interesting. Most Sonos speakers are a custom shade of black and white that we call Sonos Black and Sonos White. Sonos One, for example, is available in Sonos Black and Sonos White. However, we occasionally need to deviate from those two colours. The first time we did so was with 

. With Beam, we had the challenge of working with a fabric grille. White fabric felt cheap, so we landed on a light grey colour. However, a key aspect of our design philosophy is that each product should appear monolithic, meaning that regardless of the different materials used, the entire product should look like it’s one seamless object. To match the light grey fabric, we had to tweak the white used on the rest of Beam so that it didn’t contrast as much with the fabric. We call this variation Cloud White. When we developed Cloud White, we made sure it didn’t stand out as a different white against the rest of our products. When you view all of our light coloured speakers together, you shouldn’t notice a difference. If we have to tweak a colour, the entire portfolio still needs to feel cohesive.

But Move doesn’t have a fabric grille, so why couldn’t you use Sonos White?

We could have. When we tested Move in Sonos White outside, it proved to be very durable. But Sonos White was specifically developed for inside the home. It’s a warmer shade that feels domestic, especially in contrast to the cooler, bluer tones used in many consumer electronics. But if you see something with that same tone outside, it feels harsh and artificial. Bright white is not a “natural colour,” so taking it outdoors doesn’t feel appropriate. It stands out too much. And that’s what led us to Lunar White. Since Move was designed to be used both indoors and outdoors, we needed a colour that could seamlessly transition between the two environments. It needed to feel at home in both an indoor and an outdoor space. Colour should complement its surroundings.

Did you take the same approach to the black version of Move?

Yes. The darker shade of Move is not the same as Sonos Black. It’s actually called Shadow Black. It’s a custom colour we created for the same reasons that we created Lunar White.

What was the most difficult part of developing Lunar White?

There is a translation that needs to happen when you apply a colour to different materials and surfaces, whether that’s plastic, paint, silicone, or anodized metal. With Move, there were 20 different parts that needed colour matching. All our colour development is done in collaboration with our production suppliers, so we create production recipes. Chemistry is a big part of what we do! There’s also a good amount of work that goes into fine-tuning the way a colour appears on various materials so that we can create that monolithic look for the product. For example, when we were applying Lunar White to Move, the power cord appeared more pink than the rest of the speaker. We had to tweak the recipe so that it all looked cohesive. We also put all of our recipes to the test through hardware verification testing, ensuring that the colour is durable in terms of things like scratch resistance, chemical resistance, and UV exposure.

So it sounds like the “material” and “finish” parts of your title are just as important as “colour”?

Absolutely. Most of my team’s contribution to material development is done in collaboration with the mechanical engineering team. We work closely with them to make sure we end up using materials that enable us to deliver on the right colour and finish for a product. And by “finish” I mean texture and gloss level, how shiny or matte a product looks. With 

, our challenge was its curved grille. We actually had to reduce the gloss level on that product because the curvature of the grille made the finish look too shiny. Our products typically have a gloss level between 7 and 15 gloss. For the black version of Arc, it’s 4 gloss.

I have a four-person team with two different kinds of roles on the team. Half the team is based out of Santa Barbara and really focused on strategy. They partner with our industrial design team to identify the colour material finish (CMF) point of view for each product, but also how it fits in with the entire portfolio. They work with a lot of technical cross-functional teams outside of design, including the mechanical engineering, tooling, and acoustics teams. Then the other half of my team sits in China, and they are CMF developers, working on site with the suppliers to oversee the recipe development of the colours. They also track the CMF of a product from prototype to a finished product.

What qualifications does one need to join your team? Asking for a friend.

There is no CMF university! Really, the main prerequisite is having an affinity for colours, materials, and finishes. I never hire the same person or skill set twice. Most of the members of my team transitioned into CMF from a different background because it spoke to them. We have a material chemist, a graphic designer, an industrial designer, and an engineer on the team. I look for diverse skills, which brings different perspectives and a much more thorough discussion to the table. The one thing we all share is a keen eye on getting the details right when it comes to colour acuity.

What’s the biggest challenge of your job?

Colour specifically is a very subjective topic. So the challenge is, how do you remove the subjectivity in a space where there is no right or wrong answer? One way of doing that is with trend forecasting. It’s important to understand what colours are going to be relevant going forward and where these colour trends are coming from. But you’re not just taking fashion trends and blindly applying them to your products. You have to put them through a brand filter. You have to determine how these colour trends apply to your products. Another way is to be thoughtful about the story you want to tell with your colours. It’s important that you develop colours while keeping in mind how that product will launch and what the story will be behind it.

When did you first realize that you had a passion for colours and materials?

I discovered this during my university days. The school I was attending was really focused on industrial design, but I started to discover during my studies that I was more interested in colours, materials, and finishes. I studied under a woman named Lidewij Edelkoort, who is well known for trend forecasting and looking into the future. I leaned into having her as my mentor and ultimately graduated under her direction. During my final year, I had to create a project to graduate with and I did something very different than the other students at the time, which was to design materials and colours for window blinds. Rather than taking on a typical industrial design project, I chose to do something that I felt more interested in and passionate about.

How has your international upbringing influenced your work with colour?

When I was five, my family moved from the Netherlands to Japan, so I spent about 20 years of my life growing up in Asia. Design is a big part of the Japanese culture. And Japan is well known for design, especially graphic design and fabric design. It’s a culture that pays attention to detail when it comes to anything that is made. So I think that growing up there and being exposed to a culture with an eye for detail and design was really influential on my appreciation and fascination with colours and materials.

The result of Suidman and her team’s work, the 

, is available now on sonos.com. With a neutral tone that appears softer in outdoor environments, it complements natural surroundings while fitting in with Sonos’ larger system of speakers when indoors. Suidman is already hard at work on her next project, defining the colour of a new Sonos product. “Colour is such a big part of my life. It’s just a part of who I am,” said Suidman. “Colour makes me happy.”

Lunar White Move: A Conversation with Sonos's Design Director of Colour, Material, Finish

Our Global Head of Editorial, Steven Saftig, managed to get his hands on the new Sonos Arc right before we closed our offices. He couldn’t stop talking about our newest soundbar, so we finally told him to just write a blog post about it. From setup to Dolby Atmos, he shares what it’s like to have an Arc in your home when you’re spending the entire day there. He also talked with sound engineer Chris Jenkins about his Oscar-winning sound mixing for Mad Max: Fury Road and what it’s like to hear it in Dolby Atmos, the gold standard for home theater audio.

I was on a train, coming back to Santa Barbara after visiting my family when I got the email from our head of HR: “All employees, please work from home.” We were a little under two months away from announcing Sonos Arc to the world and I hadn’t even heard what it sounded like yet. Whenever I write about our products for the blog, I immerse myself in the experience because I want to be able to share what it’s like to actually live with them. How was I going to write about our new home theatre speaker without ever having heard it? And, to be honest, I still didn’t fully understand what Dolby Atmos was—one of Arc’s most exciting features. So when I received that email, asking us to get everything we needed out of the office by the end of the day, I panicked. So I started texting. Desperately.

Hey, does anyone have one of our new, top secret speakers lying around? Just, you know, waiting to be picked up? Like, right now?

Fast-forward through a cinematic montage of secret closets, product handoffs, and I finally had an Arc in my hands—an hour before our offices shut down.

Unboxing Arc: A shape-defying design. And 76,000 individually-drilled holes.

Back at home, I began one of my favourite parts of setting up a new Sonos product—the unboxing. The experience with Arc is as exciting and dramatic as I had hoped. More importantly though, we’ve continued to look for ways to minimize the environmental impact of our products. As Michelle Enright, Senior Design Manager, Packaging Experience describes, “For Arc, we had a clean slate opportunity to design packaging from the ground up. We created a 96.1% paper-based construction—moving away from foam-based cushions, which would have been the easier and more cost effective path.”

I peeled back the final layer of protective packaging and there it was. Now, by that point I’d seen a ton of photos of Arc, but because of the subtlety of its design, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I finally saw it in person. I carefully carried it over to my media console, placed it in front of my TV, and stood back. (You can also mount Arc to the wall.) Here’s the thing about the design of Arc: It’s actually quite difficult to describe its shape. It’s not a box. It’s not a rectangle. It’s not even a cylinder. It almost appears like it’s in motion, as if undulating. The overall effect is that Arc doesn’t feel like it’s trying to compete or stand out from the rest of your home theatre setup. As Kitty Suidman, Director, Color Material and Finish says, “[Arc’s] design is purposeful, delivering a seamless, soft familiar profile. It feels like a piece of furniture in your home.”

I started to circle around Arc. And with each angle from which I observed, a new dimension of the design was revealed. There are no harsh edges, clunky protrusions, or jarring cavities. In short, it’s stunning. Turns out, this is all very intentional. “We take a 360-degree approach,” says Philippe Vossel, Industrial Designer at Sonos. “It doesn’t matter where you first look at the product—it all matters. If you look at it from the side first, that’s where it matters. If you mount it to the wall and look at it from the bottom first, that’s where it matters.” Vossel and the Industrial Design team were also thoughtful about how your eye travels along the product. “We want to make sure you don’t get hung up or distracted by unrefined details,” he said. “And in the end, it’s how these details all tie together that allows us to create a visual story about sound.”

There’s one more thing you should know about the design of Arc. Every Sonos product is the result of a creative, collaborative balance between what the hardware and software teams want to put inside the speaker and how the industrial design team wants it to look. There is a lot of technology packed into Arc. (More on that in a moment.) And the grille is the bridge that brings these two interests together—the piece that encases all of this incredible technology, while allowing the product to look as seamless and beautiful as you expect from all Sonos products. Building on the success of technological advances we made with the grilles on Play:5 and Playbase, Arc’s grille is a single seamless sheet, carefully molded and drilled with more than 76,000 holes to ensure exceptional sound and wireless performance. “It’s the latest version of something we’ve been working on for years,” says Dana Krieger, Senior Director of Design, Product.

I set up Arc in the middle of a work day, so I couldn’t immediately sit down to watch a full movie. But I was so anxious to hear what it sounded like that I decided I had to at least listen to a song. And, as anxious as I was, I still used Trueplay™ to tune Arc to my living room, which is not a uniform shape. (Trueplay is, by far, my favorite Sonos feature. Not using Trueplay is like riding around in a new car without adjusting the seat and setting your favorite radio stations. You’ll still enjoy the ride, but you’re missing out on an experience that’s customized just for you.)

The Sound of 2020: How Listening Has Given Us Hope In A Year Of Upheaval

Travel Abroad With Six New Stations on Sonos Radio

Things That Stuck: The Mandalorian’s Composer on the Second Season and His New Sonos Radio Station

Lunar White Move: A Conversation with Sonos's Design Director of Colour, Material, Finish

I Got a Sonos Arc and Then Didn’t Leave My Home for Weeks. Here’s What Happened.

Full Spectrum on Sonos Radio: The Story Behind the Station

Arc’s Stealth Superpower

Sub and Five: Modern Interpretations. Original Artistry.

What Sound Means “Sonos”? Philip Glass Had the Answer.

Home Office Help: Using Sonos to Get Motivated, Stay Focused, and Be Productive

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.css-1q8v2sw{color:#000000;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Travel Abroad With Six New Stations on Sonos Radio

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Travel Abroad With Six New Stations on Sonos Radio