Soundtrack and Verkada bring a new sound to business
For Verkada, adding audio wasn't just about speakers. It was about making music part of the way businesses manage their spaces. Here's how teaming up with Soundtrack helped bring that idea to life.
Music does more than fill a room. So when Verkada set out to build its new Sound Systems, music quickly became a core part of the product.
Verkada helps businesses manage security cameras, access control, sensors and other building systems through Command, its cloud-based platform. Adding audio opened up a new question: what if businesses could manage music from the same place?
Verkada partnered with Soundtrack to make it happen, bringing commercially licensed music and curated playlists directly into Command.
The partnership was unveiled at VerkadaOne in Miami this past September, Verkada's annual physical security conference, where customers and partners come together to explore new products, technology and ideas.
Built around how businesses actually use sound
"Retail and hospitality is one of our fastest growing segments," says Dominic (Dom) Komorek, New Product Solution Engineer at Verkada. "We wanted to double down and invest in that space."
Verkada customers had already been asking for audio. But as the team started exploring what a speaker system should do, it became clear that announcements were only part of the story. Music mattered too.
"When we started looking into these systems, we found that music and announcements were two separate systems," Dom says. "We wanted to look at, well, what if we combine the two?"
That meant creating a system that could handle the practical side of running a space while also supporting the atmosphere businesses want to create.
For a restaurant, that might mean background music through dinner service and an announcement when needed. For a retailer, it could mean keeping music consistent across multiple zones while managing the rest of the space from the same platform.
Instead of treating sound as a separate system, Verkada wanted to make it part of Command.
Finding the right music partner
To do that, Verkada needed a music partner that could deliver a strong experience inside its own platform. Soundtrack's API fit the bill.
"We landed on Soundtrack because of their super deep and rich API," says Dom. "They were able to provide us with that rich experience directly in Command."
But the technology was only one part of the decision. The music itself had to work for the people hearing it every day.
Through conversations with beta customers, Verkada heard a familiar problem: when you spend an entire shift in the same space, repetition gets old fast. The music needs to work for the customers coming through the door without wearing out the people who are there all day. With Soundtrack, Verkada could offer more variety without adding more complexity.
"They had the playlists," says Dom. With curated playlists for every kind of space and new music added regularly, the soundtrack can change with the day instead of looping the same songs on repeat.
Bringing music into Command
With Soundtrack integrated directly into Command, businesses can browse and play music without switching to a separate music app or external media player.
Teams can manage music across multiple locations or target individual spaces and zones, all from the same platform they already use to manage Verkada devices. They can also check whether speakers and audio players are online or offline from Command on web or mobile.
For teams on-site, Verkada Desk Station gives front-desk staff and employees access to everyday controls like queuing a song or changing the volume, without giving them full access to Command.
Businesses can start with Verkada Network Speakers or bring existing third-party speakers into Command using Verkada Network Audio Players. That gives them flexibility in how they build out their setup.
And when they want more control over the music itself, they can head into Soundtrack to shape the selection around their brand, audience or time of day.
Dom describes it as a "single pane of glass" experience: customers can "do the basics within Command and then go to Soundtrack for the more custom playlists."
The result is a simpler way to manage sound as part of the bigger picture. Music can stay consistent across every location and change mood as the day goes on.
For Verkada, bringing Soundtrack into that experience was "a natural fit." And for the businesses using it, music stops being one more system to manage and becomes part of the one they already use.
