It is interesting to think of how music relates to persuasion. Is our interpretation of music something innate? Where, for example, everyone perceives minor keys are more sad, whereas major keys are more happy? Or, is music learned from our experiences, like if we associate a certain song with a break-up and thus find it depressing? This is the nature vs. nurture debate of music, and it strongly determines whether or not music is persuasive. A marketer or other agent of persuasion needs to be able to determine the connotations music holds with the intended audience so that it can be persuasive in the right way.

One example of how music can persuade a group of people is in MTV’s spring break shows. I was never allowed to watch these when they premiered. However, when viewing some clips in retrospect, the more subliminal persuasion is shocking. In order to promote MTV’s image of “cool,” they would host these huge spring break parties where music artists would play for a group of crazy youth. One year, when Limp Bizkit performed, the aftermath was particularly disturbing. After their songs “Counterfeit” and “Nobody Loves Me,” the crowd was so riled up that a huge fire was started and four girls were found to have been raped. This shows just how far the crowd had crossed the line, arguably because of the “rebel-against-the-system” type attitudes prevalent in the music they had been listening to. Raping people should never be considered “cool,” and although neither MTV nor Limp Bizkit meant to convey that message, the culture it promoted unintentionally did.

Another example of music as persuasion was clear when I used to work at Express. We would always play upbeat, club-feeling pop songs while customers shopped. The idea behind this is to create a very trendy and “cool” atmosphere that would appeal to our target audience. People would be more persuaded to buy our party clothes if they felt we understood what described a good party. The music was especially loud in the back of the store, called the denim lab, because the back section was where we kept our “casual” clothes which were a little edgier. Adversely, the music was not as loud in the front next to our professional attire.

Music can persuade different people in different ways, yet we are all affected by it. Music is such an integral part of our life and our culture, yet it is important to keep in mind how much it truly does impact our world. Keeping this truth in mind can help us become better persuaders, musicians and communicators.