The turning point for reducing classical music to little more than news was when NYC bodegas began to play baroque music loudly to drive off crowds of teenagers that were interfering with the store’s business. Apparently, the quality of the music player truly didn’t matter. That particular set of young people simply couldn’t remain in an area where classical music was being played. Since then, that effect has been documented and widely used for precisely that purpose — crowd control.
Other studies have found that classical music, particularly that from the baroque period, is uniquely suited as background noise in office environments where playing it increases productivity, masks offensive background noises, and has substantial business benefits.
But classical music is so much more than simply background noise. Much of the music from that period, in particular, not only sounds marvelous but incorporates mathematics and a manipulation of sound for emotional impact (for most of those composers, to encourage the glorification of God) and are far from simple noise.
This article looks at these issues and others: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/11/30/feature/classical-music-is-sold-as-soothing-background-music-thats-a-problem/?
Abycats' Thoughts 