Music is present in everything we do. It is everywhere…from playing our favourite band whilst driving, to the background music that plays while we walk around the supermarket. Even my kettle and washing machine play music…yes, really!
With the advent of Streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, we now have a choice of over 80 million songs instantly available at the literal click of a button. And new music is being created at an alarming rate. Did you know that there are between:
70,000 to100,000 new songs uploaded to Spotify EVERY DAY!
But why do we have all that noise? Surely, we would all just like a bit of peace and quiet right? Err….No.
The Role of Music in our Lives:
Music takes all of our joy and all of our pain, condenses it into a single moment, and allows us to relieve the emotions of those experiences without any of the consequences.
Music is what feelings sound like.
Music enables us to convey our emotions and feelings, expressing our true selves and showing the world our true personality without having to make ourselves vulnerable in the process. It allows us to express how we feel when words fail us.
And because music connects with us at an emotional level, it has the power to change how we feel. We can be feeling low or sad but ‘that song’ comes on the radio and the next thing we know we are joyfully singing along, having been lifted out of ourselves for a moment….OK…disclosure time…..that song for me is ‘Stacey’s Mom’ by Fountains of Wayne (yeah, I know!)
Not only does it do that, but music also creates tribes! It brings people together in a common cause and identity. And these bonds tend to go against political, economic, social, and intellectual boundaries. We connect in a way that isn’t worldly….we connect emotionally.
Music tells us stories. When we watch a movie, we see the characters on the screen doing what they do. You know the music is there, but you don’t notice it…..but…..that music is telling you how you should feel at that moment. It is amplifying everything you see on the screen, every part of the dialogue and conveys that message straight to your emotions….That is the joy of being a Media Composer because,
Media Composers tell you how you should feel
and then make you feel it.
What does all this mean?
It means that music is more than just entertainment. It is more than just background noise because it has the power to influence emotion and build strong emotional connections between people.
You need more than just background noise if you want an
emotional connection with your audience.
Unfortunately, I know many videographers who, ‘just slap some library music on it.’ Whilst that might sound ok and be very cheap, most library music is designed to be bland, fit with anything and not necessarily make the emotional connection you need (full disclosure, I also compose library music, and yes, there is some amazing stuff out there)….but that’s a subject for another blog post.
But that’s not all….not only does music create an emotional connection between people,
music also creates bonds between the things that are associated with it, such as:
Customers and brands
Movie goers and the characters in a film
Employees and employers (I’ve watched far too many corporate videos that failed at this!)
Me and my kettle (ok, that might be pushing it but I’m sure that is what is intended by Beville when they made my kettle)
And, rather importantly for businesses, if you have an emotional connection with your customers then you also have:
Loyalty
Engagement
Impact
Sales
Market penetration
Growth
Now that sounds like something every business, company, filmmaker, videographer, podcaster and YouTuber wants!
So, what do I do?
The next time you are putting together a marketing campaign, making a film, planning your latest motivational corporate film, think long and hard about the intended outcome you want to achieve at an emotional level. Then make the music an integral part of the project and not an afterthought.
The thing that I want to leave you with is this:
You need more than just background noise to create engagement….
You need an emotional connection.
At Black Lab Music, we compose emotion through the medium of music. Our aim is to always amplify the intended emotion and the desired outcome of the project, by creating an emotion connection with the audience.
If you want to know more about building an emotional connection with your audience, give me a call or book an informal chat using the form below….and let's get emotional!
I’d love to hear from you.
Regards
Michael
Michael Coltham is a Media Composer and Music Producer who specialises in composing emotion through the medium of music. He is a published Indie-classical/Neoclassical composer and artist and is the founder of Black Lab Music. You can find his personal work at https://songwhip.com/michaelcoltham or visit his website at www.michaelcoltham.com. To find out more about Black Lab Music visit www.blacklabmusic.co.uk
Comments