As Americans we experience numerous advertisements on a daily basis. Various aspects of our senses are triggered through these advertisements: our mouths water at the sight of melting chocolate, our noses tingle at the thought of fresh flowers, our hands desire the touch of a towel as soft as a puppy, and of course our feet bounce and our heads nod with the sound of media melodies. Even long after a commercial is over, our ears still ring with that catchy tune we cannot seem to shake. Our sense of hearing, being so closely linked to memory, plays a vital role in the advertising business. Yet, what we may not realize is that music is no longer solely featured as jingles in ads. Today the music in advertisements is not only popular, but often gains popularity because of its being featured in a 30 second television spot. This blog is an exploration into the soundscape of commercials, an adventure through the music of the media. With three different playlists exemplifying sounds from various times and various places, the pages will reveal exactly what this music accomplishes in terms of advertising.
The first playlist is a collection of songs that can be found in advertisements playing today. While some of the songs were popular before their commercial debut, others were thrown onto the music scene because of the product they are promoting. Some of the songs are used to advertise vastly different things, some songs do not seem to fit quite right with their products, others match perfectly. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this playlist was that some songs were not even legitimate songs, merely created to be the background of the advertisement, but grew such a following the artists released the songs independently.
The second playlist contains bits of the same soundscape, only from many years prior. This playlist takes a trip back to when television advertising was not quite the science it appears to be today. During the 1960s, commercial music mostly meant catchy jingles, rhyming verses, bouncy melodies. The purpose was for viewers to learn more about the product and remember that information through music. Even though music may not have held the same purpose then as it does now in advertising, even in this decade we are able to see a transformation from commercial music being merely jingles to something more.
The final playlist contains songs from contemporary commercials but with different settings and compares the connotation of the music featured. Placing commercials with urban settings against commercials with rural settings, this playlist examines the musical differences between the country and the city.
Ultimately, commercial music becomes, not only a way to remember a product, but a way to experience that product and even the music itself.
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I am citing “Commercial Music from the 1960s” for question #3. I thought that your theme was really interesting to look at the relationship between advertisements and music. Even though I think the jingles in this playlist are cute and fun, it is not the kind of music I want to listen to on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteI am citing "Contemporary Commercial Music" for question #1. I thought your idea for this playlist was extremely interesting and unique. Instead of just choosing one genre of music to explore, you incorporated many genres in your use of commercial music. I thought this was a cool spin to take on this musical project. If I could add a few songs to the "Contemporary Commerical Music" playlist, I would add "Girls" by Sugababes. This song is in a modern day JC penny commercial and it is fun and upbeat, encouraging the television audience to shop at this store. I would also add the song "Stole My Heart" by Annie Little from Amazon's Kindle commercial. I chose this song to exemplify that sometimes, it is the lyrics that are important in commercial music rather than the tune of the song. For example, the lyric, "you stole my heart, and i'm gonna steal yours too" seems to imply that this product is so wonderful that it will literally steal your heart. This may encourage someone to buy the product!
ReplyDeleteI am citing “Commercial Music from the 1960s” for question number 3. Although I found this music interesting to listen to and learn about, I’ve found that most of this commercial music is being used with the particular aim of selling a product, which I think I would find annoying to listen to on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteI am citing “Contemporary Commercial Music” for Question 2. I thought your commentary was really helpful in putting song into a contemporary context that was recognizable. This helped to spark interests, especially with popular car or electronic object commercials. Because of this connection to everyday life for me, I will definitely pursue some of these songs further. I felt as if some of the songs were calming enough to help with studying or they were just simply interesting to listen to.
ReplyDeleteI am citing the "Contemporary Commerical Music" playlist for part 3 of task 7. I think you went a really interesting route exploring the music of commercials. It is something that is really intriguing to think critically about. I enjoyed reading your commentary on the roles the music plays within advertising, but in the end the music still did not resonate for me because I always find myself irritated by simple tunes that get stuck in my head from seeing far too many ads.
ReplyDeleteI am citing the "Commercial Music from the 1960s" playlist for question 2 of Task 7. I love the concept of this blog and I have always enjoyed commercial music, but I never knew how to find those songs. Your commentaries were helpful to understand the basis of the commercial and the logistics behind the lyrics. I probably wont explore this music any further, simply because it seems to difficult to find this music as an mp3 file.
ReplyDeleteI am also citing the "Contemporary Commercial Music" playlist for question 1 of Task 7. I have many of these songs on my iPod, and many consist of my audiotopia. Songs I would import to my playlist would be "A Punk" by Vampire Weekend and "Time to Pretend" by MGMT as these were both featured in commercials in the past couple years.
ReplyDeleteI am citing the "Contemporary Commercial Music" playlist for question 2 of task 7. I thought you took a very unique spin on the project concept by analyzing the music found in contemporary commercials. While I normally find commercials to be a distraction from the show I am watching, it was really interesting to take time to wait and listen to the sonic elements of commercial music and to try and discover why certain songs connect to certain products. I discovered that many of the songs on the contemporary playlist I was familiar with but did not even know the name of the artist or song until reading them on your playlist, proof that commercial songs do influence our soundscape subconsciously. I will continue to be more aware of music in commercials and to listen for the sonic elements that make a song “Commercial worthy.”
ReplyDeleteI am citing your playlist for question #1. I have always identified with commercial music, and I think it can be quite fascinating. Exploring whether it should actually be considered music since its sole purpose is to sell something can be very interesting. I also have a strong interest in marketing, and I think your playlists provide a good variety of many different styles of commercial music. I love listening to music and thinking about whether it can sell on the radio or on television. One track I would definitely add is the "Meow Meow" tune from cat food commercials.
ReplyDeleteI am citing Urban vs Rural Commercial Music playlist for part 3. I think this was a cool concept. It’s interesting how companies use not just images and words, but also music to get consumers to buy their products. And I thought the urban vs rural dichotomy was an interesting thing to look at since most people already have stereotypes about these locations, the companies you talked about only needed a little work to bring these out. But I would never listen to most of this music in or out of a commercial, and anyway most commercials make me not want to buy the product in question.
ReplyDeleteI am citing your first playlist, "Contemporary Commercial Music" for question one in Task 7. Whenever I hear most of these songs in the commercials they are portrayed in, although it doesn't necessarily make me want to go out and buy the product in question, I still typically enjoy the music and usually look up whatever song is playing so that I can download it. I would probably add "New Soul" by Yael Naim from the Apple iMac commercial (the computer that fits in an envelope) and "Venus" by Cat Ly from the Venus razor commercials.
ReplyDeleteI am citing your 1960s playlist for number 3. To me, this music fits into two categories. There are instrumental songs which merely serve as sound effects in the background of the commercial and there are extended jingles which while musically creative are pushing their product through lyrics. The first doesn’t really have much to offer in the way of standalone listening, and the second would be annoying to sing or listen to repeatedly precisely because the product name is in the lyrics.
ReplyDeleteHey Stephanie, outstanding concept and great execution. I'll be using your "Contemporary Commercial Music" playlist for number 2 of Task 7. Things that stood out to me were Passion Pit's "Sleepyhead," which became huge with my brother form the commercial, as well as the Gears of War commercial. An awesome commercial, it reminded me of how they used Gary Jules' "Mad World" in their original commercial. Check it out if you haven't seen it. Excellent job!
ReplyDeleteI am citing comercial music from the 1960's in #2 of task 7. Since i was not alive in the 60s I had never really thought about television advertisements from that time period before. Although the commercial music was fun to listen two, I don't think I will be exploring it further. As Joanna said above me, the music doesn't really have the power to stand alone.
ReplyDeleteI am citing contemporary commerical music for 1. i do not recognize a lot of them but one commerical song you could add is Somebody's watching me from the geico commercials
ReplyDelete