Playlists "designed to drive outcomes." Ask to see the outcome.
Startle curates licensed catalog toward energy, dwell time, and sales — and never puts a number next to any of them. Entuned composes original music to the outcome, then measures it in your own reporting. Free forever, no credit card.
The core trade, in one frame
discovery call first
- Licensed catalog, curated by musicologists
- Outcome language — no outcome measurement
- Startle Player hardware, professional installation
- Pricing by quote; no published rates
Per startle.io, retrieved 2026-07; Startle sells via discovery call and quote.
$0 / location
- No card, no time limit, no auto-renew
- Original music composed to your outcome, owned outright
- Browser-based player, zero hardware
- Free 12-week measured pilot for 5–50 door operators
Startle's own homepage names the outcomes. The product never measures them — no pilot, no control stores, no per-door read.
startle.io homepage, retrieved 2026-07
What Startle gets right
Startle is the incumbent that takes music most seriously as a behavioral variable — and that deserves credit. Three things they do well:
Startle's musicologists talk tempo, arousal, and valence, and their content engages the same behavioral literature Entuned engineers against. The closest any incumbent comes to treating music as a variable instead of decoration.
Their Studio platform gives head office genuine central control with role-based permissions that stop staff overrides — a real answer to the "every store sounds different" problem.
Hardware, professional installation, proactive monitoring, and 24/7/365 support. For operators who want a vendor to own the whole audio stack, the service layer is real.
Where Startle falls short
Four structural problems, starting with the one their own homepage sets up.
Playlists "designed to drive specific outcomes, like energy, dwell time, and sales" — but no pilot, no control stores, no per-door read. The proof on offer is testimonials about vibe and service quality, not numbers.
Startle selects from licensed catalog — songs whose tempo, lyrics, and cultural reference were fixed by the original artist for other reasons. Curation can only choose among those tracks. It can't specify them.
The Startle Player ships with professional installation — a rollout project at every site. Well executed, but it's a procurement-shaped process for something a browser can do in minutes.
No published rates — a discovery call and a quote before you know what a location costs. Fine for enterprise buying; friction for an operator who wants to hear it on the floor this week.
Free forever, published pricing, zero hardware. Original music composed to your outcome — the parameters specified, not selected for. And the outcome gets measured: a free 12-week pilot across matched test and control stores, read in your own reporting.
Startle talks outcomes. The loop never closes.
Startle is the only incumbent whose homepage names the same outcomes Entuned engineers for — energy, dwell time, sales. Take that as validation: the category is moving from licensing compliance to behavior, and the most scientifically serious incumbent knows it.
Now audit the claim. What sits underneath it is a curation model — musicologists scoring licensed tracks on energy and mood — and what sits after it is nothing. No measurement in your stores, no control comparison, no per-door number. Designing toward an outcome you never measure isn't a design spec; it's a mood board with a thesis.
One question separates the two products: what did the music contribute in your stores last quarter? Entuned's answer is a free 12-week pilot across matched test and control stores, read in your own reporting. If a vendor designs for outcomes, the outcome should have a number.
Startle vs. Entuned
Startle details per startle.io, retrieved 2026-07. Pricing is quote-based and unpublished; confirm on their discovery call.
| Startle | Entuned | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Quote-based; discovery call required; no published rates | Per location: Free $0, Boost $99, Pro $399, Enterprise negotiated |
| Free tier | None published | Entuned Free — $0, no credit card, no time limit |
| Music type | Licensed catalog, curated by musicologists toward energy, dwell, and sales | Original music composed to your outcome, owned outright by Entuned |
| Hardware required | Startle Player with professional installation | None — browser-based player at music.entuned.co |
| Multi-site control | Studio platform — central control, role-based permissions | Customer dashboard at app.entuned.co, all locations from one login |
| Outcome design | Curation toward named outcomes from a fixed catalog | Parameter-level composition: tempo, key, lyrical density, energy arc specified per outcome |
| PRO obligation | Bundled into subscription (licensed catalog) | None — PRO-indemnified the moment it plays (Entuned owns the catalog) |
| Will they measure it in your stores? | None offered — outcome language backed by curation methodology and testimonials | Yes — free 12-week pilot, matched test and control stores, read in your own reporting |
What you get when you switch
No discovery call to learn the price. No card, no time limit, no auto-renew. PRO-indemnified the moment it plays.
Where curation selects the closest existing track, Entuned specifies the track: tempo, key, lyrical density, energy arc — engineered to your customer and your outcome.
A free 12-week pilot across matched test and control stores, read in your own reporting. If the music is designed to drive sales, the sales report should say so.
Runs in any modern browser at music.entuned.co. A new location is live in minutes, not an installation appointment.
Every track composed for retail use and owned outright — never appearing in another brand's store, never disappearing with a label deal.
Sales floor, fitting rooms, patio — one subscription covers every speaker in the building.
Full pricing breakdown: Entuned's four-tier pricing · The engineering behind it: how the translation engine works
Switching from Startle
Can I keep my Startle service while testing Entuned?
Isn't Startle's behavioral science the same thing Entuned does?
Will I owe ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC if I switch to Entuned?
Startle installs and manages the hardware. What replaces that with Entuned?
How fast can I roll Entuned out across all my locations?
Is there a usage limit on Entuned Free?
Hear it on your floor.
Original music composed to your outcome — and a pilot that proves it in your own reporting.
Start a measured pilot Start FreeRunning 5–50 locations? Start a measured pilot. Single store or just a few? Start Free.