Do you live in the late 1990s and still have an online, personal homepage? None of us do either, but we think this might be more common elsewhere. That’s the only way to explain this study carried out at the University of Miami which has shown that the style of music played over a personal webpage will affect how attractive page viewers will rate you. Ladies hoping to appear attractive and agreeable should opt for classical music, whilst men with similar ambitions should go for heavy metal. According to the researchers, classical music suggests women are liable to be the “angel in the house” while heavy metal gives an impression of men as “tough and somewhat rebellious”. As always, we’re a little cynical about generalising the use of specific pieces of music by Mendelssohn and Pelican respectively with entire genres, but nonetheless it’s an interesting study.

More importantly, for us, it draws attention to the use of music on web pages. It’s a fraught issue, and one that appears to be being won by silence. It’s certainly true that auto-play music can really interfere and distract when it’s common for people to be listening to music while they browse online. At the same time, well chosen music can really enhance the feel of a webpage, and if this study is to be believed, something Match.com should be offering its users shortly.