We all love music. Of course, we all have different tastes and some may detest a song, artist, or genre that someone else really enjoys, but you’ll have to try very hard to find someone who doesn’t like listening to at least some form of music at all.
There’s nothing more magical than finding another person who shares the same musical interests as us. Discussing favorite tracks and times when we saw artists perform live can be a great way to bond with someone.
But music is much more than just a hobby. Humans have been harnessing its power for centuries, using it to tell stories, sell products, make us more productive, and much more.
Getting More Done
No matter whether you’re a university student trying to get a last-minute essay finished or an office worker trying to finish a report for your boss, many of us use music in order to be more productive.
Some of us use the music we blast through our headphones to help drown out the distractions of busy work environments, while others find the soothing tones of soft jazz and classical music help us relax and feel less stressed.
However, you may find that a song with a higher tempo assists you best in getting more done.
In the late 19th, early 20th centuries, management academics began studying ways to make employees more productive. One of the most effective tools they discovered was music. Songs with a repetitive beat and fast tempo helped to make employees work faster as they moved to the rhythm of the song.
The UK government was so sold on this idea that it had the BBC broadcast a radio show called “Music While You Work” during a large part of the 20th century. This would broadcast upbeat music into the factory floors up and down the country, helping to make the entire nation improve its productivity.
Making Games More Engaging
Games are a new way for storytellers to get their message across to audiences. They make the narrative more interactive, letting the player have some say over what happens, when, and how.
Games like Grand Theft Auto have featured big-name actors like Samuel L Jackson, James Woods, and Ray Liotta, showing how much of a draw the medium is to some of the best storytellers of today.
And ever since the first video games, music has played a big role in the experience. Music can help set the tone for a level. We saw this in many early platform games where the soundtrack would intensify when the player was under attack, a time limit was about to be reached, or a boss character had appeared.
In Driver for PlayStation, the change in music helped to differentiate when the police were in pursuit and when they weren’t.
Casino games also use music and other sound effects to help keep the player engaged. The video slot market is incredibly competitive, with hundreds of different titles for players to choose from. As well as using bonuses like free spins and popular characters or brands like Ted, Monopoly, and Deal or No Deal, slot games feature loud sounds and cheerful music to alert the user to different events in the game, making it more exciting to play.
Encouraging Us To Buy More
Marketing executives have been deploying music as part of their efforts to make us buy more of their products for decades. Some of the earliest efforts were the very obvious but equally catchy jingles.
One of the most famous examples is the Chiquita Banana commercial from the 1940s, though others include the Cadbury’s “for mash, get Smash” jingle from the 1970s and the “Go Compare” song from the 2010s.
The music helps the ad to be much more memorable, making you more likely to think about the brand while you’re out shopping.
Supermarkets and department stores have also got in on the act. They use carefully curated playlists of slower music to be played around their stores. Research has found that this encourages shoppers to walk more slowly, giving them more time to browse and making them more likely to make impulse purchases.
You can even try this one out yourself. Listen to some music through your headphones while you shop. When you play fast music, you’ll be more likely to charge around the store like you’re a competitor on Supermarket Sweep, but when you play slow music, you’ll push your trolley around like you’re out for a leisurely Sunday drive.
