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.
Did you know that well-designed on-hold messages with pleasant, enjoyable, smiling narration, have the power to make your callers feel more confident about retaining your services? It also increases their trust in your company. It's tricky, but the reverse is really true. An unpleasant delay provides your callers with a great opportunity to judge your facilities and customer service.

Where this creates an extra snag with music on hold is that the loudest part of a song doesn’t typically come in until the final chorus or reprise. This means that if you just listen to the first 10 seconds to check that your new hold music is working, then chances are you’ll be blissfully unaware that three minutes into holding (just as customers are beginning to feel irritated anyway), you start playing a sound like fingernails on a blackboard to them.
83% of callers who are put into a queue without custom on-hold features will hang up after just 15 seconds. 36% of these people will never call back again. With Custom hold messaging you can reduce hang-up rates for your business and engage callers while they wait.