When Should You License Background Music for Your Business?

From inspiring and motivational scores to ambient tracks for setting the mood, choosing the right background music for your business or project is more important than you think...

BY DOMINIC FRANCESCHI

Music is one of the most durable and flexible tools marketers and creatives have in supporting and influencing their audiences. It has the ability to fill in the gaps of a storyline in addition to setting expectations for things to come.

More and more, businesses and film makers are investing in background music as a more effective way to connect with their target audiences.

Background Music for Retail

For decades, Target refused to have music playing in their stores out of fear it would distract the customers from making their purchases. They could not have been more wrong, and in 2011 they began to roll out music in all of their stores worldwide and now has music being a intricate part of their retail strategy today.

"It's all about activating all the senses while guests are in the store," said Target spokesperson Kristy Welker. "Guests enjoy it as part of the shopping experience. When we first started testing it and asking guests what they think, some of them even wondered if we had it there before."

Choosing the right music for your retail space is a challenge, but we recommend testing it during your key shopping hours with your target customers. Play around with different types of music, talk to your shoppers, and mold your track list into the overall shopping experience. In order to play music in your retail space, you need to make sure it is licensed. Luckily you can do that without breaking the bank.

Background Music for Film

Music is emotional and certain sounds can help communicate a feeling or expectation better than dialogue. In the original Star Wars trilogy, the first time in each film when Darth Vader is introduced to the audiences, we hear John Williams' "The Imperial March". Right away we know who the antagonist is in the story and what to expect from the character. This choice of music sets the environment in addition to driving the story for the viewers.

A good tip when deciding where to use music is to utilize storyboards. With scenes that seem to drag or are out of place, consider marking those cards with tracks or music descriptors. To learn more about storyboards check out this great resource along with some free templates to download.

Start filling in your storyboards with the tracks you need to help tell your story...

Background Music for Marketing Videos

With more brands seeing a better ROI in online video compared to traditional online advertising content, there has been an influx in the demand by companies for video content that not only captures their brand, but also converts one time viewers into customers.

Consumers are 64% to 85% more likely to buy after watching a product video.

There are plenty of cost effective applications and tools that allow you to create compelling marketing videos without any outside help. If your budget allows you to hire freelance designers or agencies, endless online communities have emerged for you to source help from. Although the barrier of entry to video is easier, creating a polished video that is effective and compelling is still no easy task. One of the best ways to get to that finished product is using background music that encompasses your product or service as well as your brand.

When choosing background music for your video, keep in mind the following...

The music should be subtle, yet noticeable.
Avoid music with too many breaks...breaks in music equal breaks in attention.
Build your music around the video, not the other way around.
Choose a song or type of sound that you want before you start looking...if you want the music to feel like an Aerosmith song, stick with that and don't settle.

Background music is what separates student films from motion pictures. It keeps people shopping in stores, rather than purchasing everything online. It is what makes you tear up when you stumble upon the Adopt a Pet commercial when flipping the channels on the television.

Browse all of our collections now, start building your own lists, and do it all without ripping through your budget.