If it is a genre, hold music, it's fair to say, is a troubled one with few hits. It's not really meant to be loved or even listened to — it's meant to communicate something specific: Don't hang up. (Cornell makes this plea specifically at the end of his song.) Silence is believed to be a death knell for phone calls — people will simply think the line is dead and hang up. This is true even on non-hold calls; it's why phone companies transmit something called a "comfort tone" over phone lines, a barely audible synthetic noise that signals a connection is still there.
For a more modern example of a bad choice of hold music, let’s take an example I have to endure on a regular basis, Month of Sundays by Passenger. At CD quality it’s got lots of interesting stuff going on, which you’d imagine might be ideal to distract someone from the fact they’re being kept on hold for ages. However, playing it over the phone it’s simply too busy. As soon as the brass and backing vocals kick in it just sounds yuck.

Whether you are using an analogue landline or a VoIP business phone service, your voice travels over a variety of circuits and networks — most of which serve to disrupt the original audio file.
Present your callers with multiple options ensuring they are directed to where they need to be quickly.