Musical Fit Research Articles

Perception of outdoor environments while listening to music: the mutual influence of music and environmental features.

This study explored the effects of music on the perception of outdoor urban environments, both built and natural. The participants (n = 74) evaluated five environments located on one walking route in terms of emotional and spatio-cognitive dimensions while listening to one of two types of music: upbeat and conventional or reflective and complex. We found only a very slight effect of music on the evaluation of the emotional and spatio-cognitive dimensions of the environment. The less complex upbeat and conventional music increased the perceived complexity of environments but only if participants took the route from less complex to more complex environments. The liking music mediated the effect of music in the evaluation of emotional dimensions of the environment. Furthermore, a less-liked environment negatively affected the liking of music heard in that environment. Reflective and complex music was perceived as more congruent with the environment than upbeat and conventional music, which is explained by musical fit theory. The features of the environments that were evaluated had a stronger effect on listeners than the music. Natural environments were perceived as more coherent, mysterious, pleasant, interesting, and energetic than built environments, regardless of the music. Moreover, a contrast effect was observed in which the features of the first environment evaluated influenced the evaluation of subsequent environments. It is suggested that the intensity of music may be an important factor for environmental evaluations, in addition to the specific situations in which the music is heard.

Ambient music and retailer equity: The moderating role of music fit

Researchers have explored the impact of ambient music on consumer responses in the retail environment and reported conflicting findings. This study investigated the relationship between ambient music and retailer equity, with a focus on the moderating effect of music fit. Data were collected through a field study conducted in a fashion store, where pop songs were used to attract customers (N = 406). Hierarchical regression analysis results suggested that ambient music was positively associated with retailer equity, and the strength of this relationship was moderated by music fit. Specifically, the positive impact of ambient music on retailer equity was stronger when the music aligned with customers' overall image of the store. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

The effects of perceived musical fit on sport consumer behaviours: examining the mediating role of consumer emotional states

The effects of perceived musical fit on sport consumer behaviours: examining the mediating role of consumer emotional states

My favorite resources for teaching musical acoustics

I teach a Physics of Music class at Wake Forest University. Students from a broad range of majors and backgrounds take the class to fulfill a science divisional requirement for graduation. In this talk I will describe how I incorporate some of my favorite online resources into my instruction. Some of these include the Sound and Waves section of the Physclips web platform created by Joe Wolfe at the University of New South Wales. I also frequently draw from Dan Russell’s Acoustics and Vibration Animations at Penn State University. In addition, I find that tools and resources such as online spectrograms and live-streamed music fit well within my course.

패션상품 숏폼 동영상 소구 유형과 BGM 적합성 - 유저타입을 중심으로 -

숏폼 동영상 플랫폼의 빠른 발전에 따라 숏폼 동영상 광고는 점차 전통 광고를 대체하여 기업의 새로운 마케팅 수단으로 활용되고 있으며, 타깃 고객의 특성화 선호도에 맞는 숏폼 동영상 광고를 제작하는 것이 매우 중요하게 여겨진다. 이에 본 연구는 실험설계 디자인을 통하여 숏폼 동영상 광고 소구 유형과 BGM 적합성이 소비자들의 정서적, 행동적 반응이 어떠한 영향을 미치는지 파악하고, 특히 소셜커머스에서 구매 경험이 많은 소비자와 그렇지 않은 소비자 간에 숏폼의 이와 같은 차이가 어떠한 반응으로 이어지는지도 함께 규명하고자 하였다. 소셜커머스 구매 경험이 있는 20대 중국 남녀 소비자를 대상으로 하여 설문조사를 통해 자료 수집을 하였고, SPSS 25.0을 이용하여 연구가설을 검증하였다. 연구 결과, 1)전체적으로 숏폼 동영 상 플랫폼을 통한 패션 제품 쇼핑 시 BGM 적합성의 중요성을 확인할 수 있었다. 2)동영상 소구 유형은 소셜 커머스 라이트 유저들의 반응에 차이를 주는 것으로 나타났고 동영상 소구와 BGM 적합성의 상호작용도 라 이트 유저들에게서 나타났다. 본 연구의 결과를 바탕으로 소셜커머스 쇼핑 업체들이 숏폼을 마케팅 채널로 사용함에 있어 타깃 고객의 특성화 선호도를 고려하여 사용자 참여를 유도할 수 있는 숏폼 유형과 BGM을 제작해야 할 것이다. 소구 유형에 따라 적합한 BGM만을 사용하여야 소비자들이 플랫폼 이용 시 긍정적인 감정을 매개하여 구매의도를 형성하는데 더 효과적일 것이라 판단된다. 이에 숏폼 동영상 플랫폼을 사용하는 주 고객층에 대한 마케팅 전략이 요구되며, 본 연구 결과를 통해 소셜커머스에서 패션 제품 판매 전략에 기초 자료로 도움을 주고자 하며 소비자 행동 연구에 학술적으로 기여하고자 한다.

The Impact of Musical Fit and Sound Design on Consumers’ Perception of a Luxury Car Ad

A study is reported that was designed to investigate the influence of various kinds of sonic accompaniment on consumers’ perception of a high-end luxury sports car. Using a between-participants experimental design, groups of 40 participants viewed a short car ad. The groups heard either classical music, pop music, sound effects, or listened in silence. The results revealed that participants perceived the car’s power, driving excitement and engine technology to be highest when the ad was paired with sound effects. Meanwhile, participants perceived the car to be most elegant and indicated the highest price for the car when the ad was paired with classical music. Those participants who watched the ad in silence rated lowest for all aspects of the car’s characteristics, including indicating the lowest price for the car. Interestingly, the participants admitted that music/sound effects influenced their perception of the advertised luxury sports car. This implies that specially curated sound design may help to highlight specific characteristics of a car.

Right to remix: ideas and original forms of musical works

The modern stage of development of creativity is characterized by an increase in the manufacturability of this type of activity. The art of making popular music fits into this trend, highlighting its advantages and disadvantages most vividly. The peculiarity of popular music production is the repetition of standard expressive means, which have proven to be attractive. The copying of popular fragments and spectacular musical techniques became widespread, resulting in the formation of sound remix culture. Against this background, the number of disputes over the boundaries of legal borrowing of musical material has increased in the courts both in Russia and abroad. In the media sphere, examples of unlawful appropriation of fragments from popular songs that violate the rights of their composers, performers, and producers of phonograms are discussed. To resolve such disputes, specialized procedures have been developed, the results of which are criticized. This article discusses various approaches to the legal qualification of copying musical material. The phenomenon of the formation of musical standards, repetitive elements, techniques, and clichés, which are proposed to be classified as unguarded musical ideas at the doctrinal level, is investigated. The methods used to establish copyright infringement, to identify the facts of unlawful appropriation of musical material, and significant similarity of works are analyzed. Our attention is drawn to the test of the unique quality of a musical work and its justification from the point of view of the principles of copyright. To make decisions on music copying cases, we propose to use data on the quantitative ratio of protected and unprotected material in the compared works, as well as on the sources of borrowing that can be obtained using computer music recognition tools

Review essay: Between the Material and the Ephemeral

Review essay: Between the Material and the Ephemeral

Writing about Polyphony, Talking about Civilization: Charles Burney’s Musical ‘Corns and Acorns’

Abstract In the eighteenth century polyphony—from simply being a term denoting a musical technique—became an evaluative-descriptive concept, following this path in association with the idea of civilization. Retracing Burney’s steps as a music historian and a music critic, the article shows how the Musical Doctor adopted a specific kind of narrative developed by Scottish conjectural historians that saw history as unfolding through several specific stages, progressively abandoning simplicity for the complexities of civilization. This seemingly linear narrative is complicated both by showing how making every music fit into this linear scheme was not easy, and by bringing forth the arguments developed especially by Scottish literati in order to explain why their native musical tradition could be considered equal or superior to Western art-music. The discourse, with Rousseauian echoes, that allowed the association between simplicity and positive values that were to be opposed to the excesses and depravity of civilized life, was articulated through the intellectual tools developed during the debate about luxury that raged through the eighteenth century. Nestled in the luxury debate, the non-literate music tradition that in non-Western locations had been considered as an instance of ‘barbarism’ now stood for a noble ‘simplicity’, whose value consequently reversed making artlessness a possible element of sublime beauty. The contradictions in Burney’s attitude towards non-Western musics and national European musics—on the one hand tirelessly collecting information about music-making from any corner of the world and on the other hand promoting only those values that made multi-part music the emblem of musical civilization—will serve to explain the interplay between ideas related to polyphony, civilization, and national musics in the eighteenth century.

Effectiveness of a musical fitness programme for older adults with cognitive impairment in long-term care facilities: A quasi-experimental study.

To investigate the effectiveness of a musical fitness programme (MFP) intervention in improving neuropsychiatric symptoms, depression, upper-limb muscle strength and cognition of older adults with cognitive impairment in long-term care (LTC) facilities. Because of population ageing, the number of older adults with cognitive impairment has been increasing. The effectiveness of medications in treating cognitive impairment is limited; therefore, the global trend has been for non-pharmacological treatments. However, intervention studies of MFPs on older LTC residents with cognitive impairment are scant. This study adopted a quasi-experimental design in accordance with the Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs (TREND) checklist. In total, 84 older adults with cognitive impairment were recruited from seven LTC facilities. The MFP was implemented from July-November 2019. The intervention group received the MFP, which was 50min per session, twice a week for 12weeks, whereas the comparison group received usual care. Neuropsychiatric inventory nursing home version, the Cornell scale for depression in dementia Chinese version, 30-s arm curl test and Mini-Mental State Examination were the outcome measures. Data were analysed using Chi-square test, t test and repeated measure analysis of variance. After the intervention, the scores of neuropsychiatric inventory and the Cornell depression exhibited significant differences over time between two groups (F=3.6, p=.029; F=5.96, p=.003, respectively). Nevertheless, 30-s arm curl test and Mini-Mental State Examination demonstrated non-significant between-group differences. The MFP can effectively reduce neuropsychiatric symptoms and depression in older adults with cognitive impairment in LTC facilities. To ensure a more robust evidence base, more research is warranted. The MFP is a non-pharmacological treatment that can be implemented to promote psychological well-being among older adults with cognitive impairment in LTC facilities, and to indirectly reduce nursing staff burden. To assist nursing staff in providing this intervention, on-the-job training is needed.

Algorithmically Flexible Style Composition Through Multi-Objective Fitness Functions

Creating a musical fitness function is largely subjective and can be critically affected by the designer's biases. Previous attempts to create such functions for use in genetic algorithms lack scope or are prejudiced to a certain genre of music. They also are limited to producing music strictly in the style determined by the programmer. We show in this paper that musical feature extractors, which avoid the challenges of qualitative judgment, enable creation of a multi-objective function for direct music production. The main result is that the multi-objective fitness function enables creation of music with varying identifiable styles. To demonstrate this, we use three different multi-objective fitness functions to create three distinct sets of musical melodies. We then evaluate the distinctness of these sets using three different approaches: a set of traditional computational clustering metrics; a survey of non-musicians; and analysis by three trained musicians.

Proposal of Classified Music Recommendation Model Based on Social Media

With the spread of smartphones, it has become common to always listen to music like background music, so it is necessary to create a music database that meets individual needs. By creating a music database using data from social media, music is classified in a different way from collaborative filtering, which is mainly used by existing music source providing platforms. Various other hashtags attached to posts with music titles used as hashtags are collected using web crawling, and music is classified based on the collected hashtags to reflect actual listeners’ opinions on music. It uses crawling to find posts on social media with music titles tagged as hashtags, then collects other hashtags attached to those posts. Hashtags collected by performing the same task with multiple music titles are collected, analyzed, and statistics are then classified to determine when and where the music fits. On social media, the feelings of the person who posted the post and the conditions such as the time zone, place, weather, and situation where the post was posted are reflected as hashtags. By analyzing the hashtags attached to the music title, it is possible to build a social media-based music database in which the opinions of various people are reflected as collective intelligence. It is possible to derive different results from existing collaborative filtering based on the past listening records of users of the platform used by most of the sound source providing platforms. Even if music titles are not written in complete form on social media hashtags, we plan to research them so that they can be used to build a database.

The Effects of Lyrical Fit in Advertisements

Music’s ability to suggest certain brand impressions were investigated in this study based on the theory of ‘musical fit.’ This is because music/voice content that ‘fit’ should prime certain impressions of the listeners’ knowledge for the brand and an increase/decrease in liking for the advertised product. This study, in particular, investigated the effects of using popular music with lyrics that ‘fitted’ an advertised product. Participants watched one of three versions of an advertisement whereby lyrics were varied in each version. The music selections were similar in lyrical meaning, tempo, style, rhythm, etc. The results contradicted previous findings ; implying that music with lyrics that ‘fit’ may not necessarily improve affective responses to brand impressions. The implications of this were discussed in terms of Berlyne’s theory and the limitations of musical fit.

The Effects of Ethnically Congruent Music on Eye Movements and Food Choice-A Cross-Cultural Comparison between Danish and Chinese Consumers.

Musical fit refers to the congruence between music and attributes of a food or product in context, which can prime consumer behavior through semantic networks in memory. The vast majority of research on this topic dealing with musical fit in a cultural context has thus far been limited to monocultural groups in field studies, where uncontrolled confounds can potentially influence the study outcome. To overcome these limitations, and in order to explore the effects of ethnically congruent music on visual attention and food choice across cultures, the present study recruited 199 participants from China (n = 98) and Denmark (n = 101) for an in-laboratory food choice paradigm with eye-tracking data collection. For each culture group, the study used a between-subject design with half of the participants listening to only instrumental “Eastern” music and the other half only listening to instrumental “Western” music, while both groups engaged in a food choice task involving “Eastern” and “Western” food. Chi-square tests revealed a clear ethnic congruency effect between music and food choice across culture, whereby Eastern (vs. Western) food was chosen more during the Eastern music condition, and Western (vs. Eastern) food was chosen more in the Western music condition. Furthermore, results from a generalized linear mixed model suggested that Chinese participants fixated more on Western (vs. Eastern) food when Western music was played, whereas Danish participants fixated more on Eastern (vs. Western) food when Eastern music was played. Interestingly, no such priming effects were found when participants listened to music from their own culture, suggesting that music-evoked visual attention may be culturally dependent. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that ambient music can have a significant impact on consumers’ explicit and implicit behaviors, while at the same time highlighting the importance of culture-specific sensory marketing applications in the global food industry.

Music as Art and Science: An Evaluation

Music is presented in this discourse as a coin with two sides –thus as an Art also as a science. Looking at music as an Art draws one’s attention to the artistic features and characteristics of music such as styles and skills of performances as in dancing, singing, playing instrument and its position in other related areas with similar attributes. On the other hand, seeing music from the perspective of a science, the study of acoustics, sound productions, mathematical relationships and intervallic applications are evident. Art involves creative thinking and inspiration to achieve an expected goal or a set objective. Science on its own employs knowledge interaction and inquiries to produce new scientific discoveries. Music co-habits these two complex entities in a seemingly integrative association. This paper therefore is a critical examination and evaluation of musical potency that qualifies it as an art as well as science. The argument is anchored on qualitative evaluation of materials drawn from related literatures and sources. It finally draws the conclusion that since music fits in properly, and performs creditably as an art, as well as maintains great affinity with science, it should be treated as a bicameral discipline.
 Keywords: Art, Science, Relationship, Music, Imagination, Inspiration

The influence of different levels of musical fit on the efficiency of audio-visual advertising

Music acts as a prominent element of advertising, but its simple presence does not automatically improve the effects of advertising. The concept of musical fit was developed more than 25 years ago to address the question of how music can be used effectively in advertising. However, existing empirical research on this concept has yielded inconsistent results. Recently, we developed an instrument to determine musical fit systematically in audio-visual advertising (Herget et al., 2018). To test this instrument empirically, we created six advertising stimuli (“commercials” or “ads”) representing six types of musical fit on four levels of musical fit, which varied only in terms of how many advertising reference points (spot narration, product, and/or target group) matched the background music. The findings of our between-subjects laboratory experiment (participants: 178 students, 74% female) reveal that the stimuli at different levels of musical fit differed sharply in terms of the intuitively perceived degree of musical fit (η2 = .33). In addition, increasing the level of musical fit improved advertising efficiency in terms of participants’ attitudes toward the ad (η2 = .12) and product (η2 = .12), as well as their purchase intentions (η2 = .06) and memory performance (η2 = .06). If other researchers were to use the instrument described, which defines and operationalizes musical fit systematically and transparently, results of future empirical studies would be more consistent. The results of the present study indicate that advertisers are well advised to select music to fit the commercial’s reference points as closely as possible, to intensify the music’s efficiency.

Make a Joyful Noise: Integrating Music into Child Psychiatry Evaluation and Treatment.

Music is a significant part of daily life for most youth, affording clinical opportunities to cultivate positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment. Clinical inquiry into what types of music elicit different emotions, how music fits into daily life routines, how music connects one to others, and how music anchors life events can improve the clinician-patient alliance and patient well-being practices. Music may be useful in home and school settings to help youth manage diverse moods. Practicing an instrument effectively accelerates accomplishment and pleasure, which applies to other life activities.

Development and testing of an instrument to determine Musical Fit in audio–visual advertising

Over the past three decades, several studies have explored the concept of Musical Fit in audio–visual advertising. However, a central problem is the inconsistency of the results derived from these studies. The current level of knowledge does not make it possible to safely predict whether and how Musical Fit influences recipients’ attention, brand and product recall, and positive attitudes toward commercials, including purchase intentions. One origin of this problem is the lack of a coherent definition and operationalization of Musical Fit. Therefore, this article describes the development of a transparent and applicable instrument to identify and determine Musical Fit in audio–visual advertising. Starting from music’s function of transporting and inducing emotions and its ability to communicate referential meaning, we designed a classification system for relating music to the three most important reference points of a commercial: the narration, the product, and/or the target group. Accordingly, Single, Double, and Perfect Musical Fit can be distinguished and classified into different types. To test whether the developed instrument is applicable in practice, we conducted a quantitative content analysis of 594 German TV commercials. After two pilot tests, the inter-coder reliability of two different coders improved to an average of .80, providing an indication of the instrument’s practicability. Surprisingly, the most common Musical Fit types were a Single Fit to Narration (50%), a matching largely unaddressed in studies to date, a Double Fit to Narration and Product (21%), and a Perfect Fit (15%), the type that is most difficult to create.

Cross-cultural anger communication in music: Towards a stereotype theory of emotion in music

Anger perception in music was investigated to determine if this emotion is cross-culturally decoded. A literature review of studies which investigated anger cross-culturally revealed variance between encoders and decoders. In an attempt to explain this variance, these data were examined using existing cross-cultural theories in music psychology, but each was poor in explaining some of the variance observed. For example, none were able to explain explicitly why anger expressed in Japanese music was poorly decoded by Indian, Japanese, and Swedish listeners. New interpretations of the published data were conducted through Hofstede’s cross-cultural dimensions theory and the theory of musical fit. Building on these theories, the Stereotype Theory of Emotion in Music (STEM) was proposed. According to STEM, listeners filter the emotion they perceive according to stereotypes of the encoding culture. For example, Japanese culture is stereotyped as an anger-reticent culture, explaining the low anger decoder ratings for ‘anger-encoded’ music. STEM suggests that anger perception is culturally influenced by a stereotyping process. The theory predicts that anger will be perceived if the decoding culture has no stereotype associated with the culture the music is believed to be from, leaving the music free to be interpreted through psychophysical or culture-specific cues. STEM presents a new way forward in understanding the cognitive processing of emotion in music.

Impact of musical fits and image of different malls on consumer purchase behaviour

This paper aims to explore the process by which the influence of retail environment, especially the music on consumer perception and behaviour in eight malls. The data was obtained using a structured questionnaire from 436 respondents in eight malls survey conducted in India. Our study reveals that females are happier with the music played in the background in the mall compared to males. However, music in the malls has more effect on males purchase behaviour compared to females musical fit with the image of the mall increasing the duration of their stay. Emotional behaviour due to atmospherics will affect purchase decision especially of low involved products. The higher the music fit, the higher will be the shopping behaviour and frequency of visit.