Assurance Vie et patrimoine

Archive pour décembre 2011

The legend said that the origin of the word Hip-Hop is due to Keith Cowboy, a rapper who invented it to tease a friend doing the rhythmic cadence of the soldier’s march. At that time the Hip-Hop was known as rap disco.
Born in the late 70′s, in the Bronx, in New York City, the well known music which is part of the « Urban art » with graph, street wear, break-dance, beat boxing, rap music, r’n'b, dj’s and producer started to grow. According to the French dictionary « Le Petit Larousse » that music is a type of music which is accompanied with lyrics improvised or not, which are said in a rhythmic way generally to a beat. Taking its roots from the disco, the reggae and in some way the funk, the Hip-Hop is in constant evolution and development in the Whole world. « Street music » has entered the charts of music, put rock’ n Roll into a second plan and change the way of life of the new generations.



Often judged in a bad way, criticized by journalists and men of knowledge: doing rap music would be just a trend? A type of music which end to die in a few years? A youth and unintelligent music?
Seen as a violent music, doing the apology of « street life », the popularity of that music must mean than Rap could be analysed in another way. The Hip-Hop has different characteristics and even if it is shown in the media as the music made by minorities for minorities it has evolved to a greater way.

Different elements may explain the development of Hip-Hop and especially rap music in the past decades. Like Blues or Jazz that music came out of nowhere to make the people express themselves about their situation and their environment.
« We have grown with rap, we are listening to rap, we have stopped our studies to do rap, we move on with rap, we’ll pass that message and defend rap music » Rohff and Alibi Montana –
“A l’ancienne” (Translated from French).
Rap was built and is still living thanks to the Black and Latinos in the ghettos in the United States but also thanks to the immigrants in the suburbs in all Europe especially in France.
As soccer had found a place in the poor neighbourhood and countries like Brazil, rap music was also developed due to the low cost investment that music needed to. Indeed the equipment was not expensive and it was accessible to everybody as soccer was and continues to be. That type of music appears original because all the rappers did not need to spend money in music lessons and they were « rapping » everywhere most of the time without thinking of recording their work: it was just a pleasure.
Nevertheless « Mcs », which is the so called name for rappers, must be inventive in the way they were catching the beat with their rhymes and the power of their lyrics. That music was built on competition and advertisement, the goal was and still is to reach the « street credibility » which is the gratefulness of your friends and fans of rap music in the street.  With Hip-Hop everything was possible, the entire topic could be used thanks to the fact that unlike other music: it was the music of no rules, of a new generation.
« Rapping was a verbal skill that could be practiced and honed to perfection at almost anytime ». written by Dave’Davey D’Cook. c 1985

Marginal from the overall music, the Hip-Hop was confronted to many obstacles during its way to success. Indeed, that type of music was not recognized as a particular music even if it was clearly different from reggae, disco or funk. At the beginning rap music was known as rap disco or reggae. It was hard for the pioneer like Jay Master Jay, Sugarhillgang’s (Rappers) or African Bambaataa (an instrumental dj of Hip-Hop) to introduce that music into a new type of Music. « The early days of hip-hop were characterized by divisions between fans and detractors of disco music »  HYPERLINK « http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurtis_Blow »
Kurtis Blow. 
 HYPERLINK « http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurtis_Blow »
Its in that environment that rap music was born, the ambition of being a representative music for « all the people in the same struggle » or « all the people from the block » like Notorious Big said (A famous rapper from the Bronx) was not easy. 
 HYPERLINK « http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurtis_Blow »
As an example in France, which is the second producer of the world of rap music, the Hip-Hop is hardly gaining a place in media. Only one radio called Skyrock is concerned about that music whereas more than ten channels are concerned about pop music. Even if that music realized the best sales in industry of music in France, nowadays, it is still recognized by everyone as a second plan music.


« Hip hop is a lifestyle with its own language, style of dress, music and mind set that is continuously evolving ».  Written by Dave’Davey D’Cook. c 1985

In a complete changing context in the 80′s, Hip-Hop, thanks to technology, evolved to another level with groups like the Public enemy or the Woo-Tang-Clan which led to the increase of rappers, producers, dj’s and fans. That type of music was not relegated to parties in the Bronx anymore but its techniques was spreading in the overall American floor as the wind in the West Coast, Philadelphia and other places. Songs of Hip-Hop started to be recorded, bought and we passed from a phenomenon, a trend of groups and gangs to solo artist like LL Cool J.



The Hip-Hop was going from « old school » to  « new school » songs thanks to more rhythmic rap and to the birth of « Gangsta rap » throw Dr.Dre in 1990′s and its album The Chronic.

He was followed by Big and 2pac and an amount of rappers who made the rap become more popular than it was. In a constant evolution Hip-hop gave birth :

To « Alternative rap » lead by Kanye West and Outcast in the US and Abd El Malik in France. (cf a picture of Outcast)

To « Reggaeton » which is a mixture of reggae, rap and Latin music thanks to Papa A.p. (cf a picture of Papa A.p)

To « Bling Bling rap » born in the South in the beginning of the new century with 50 Cent and other artists like Ying Yang Twins in the Us and Booba as the first representative of that type of songs in France. (c.f a picture of Booba)

To « Lyrical Rap » with the new issues that came after 9/11 to accuse the system with Nas in the US and Medine in France. (cf a picture of Nas)
To « Slam » which is a part of the Hip-Hop style and consists on saying lyrics with rhythms and without a beat which accompanied the singer like Grand Corps Malade in France. (cf a picture of Grand corps malade)

To « Fast Rapping » which consists in saying the lyrics quickly on the beat Twista being the only rapper who is doing that type of rap. (cf a picture of Twista)


« With everybody almost one million albums sold who had believed? » Mafia K’1 Fry – Thug Life

From the first single of Hip-Hop Rapper’s Delight from the Sugar Hill Gang in 1979 that music increased in fans to reach the popularity of other music, like pop, at the end of the previous century. It entered in the music charts with the intention of staying and while criticizers were thinking that it will come to an end, Hip-Hop is still alive. In France for example Rap music realized the best results in the music industry above all types of music thanks to Kerry James in 2008 with more than 100 000 album sold for A l’hombre du show business or Rohff with nearly 150 000 albums sold for Le code de l’horreur. In the main time in the US Lil Wayne with his album « That Carter III » ended up the year 2008 with 3 millions albums sold which lead him at the top of the podium.
« You never thought the Hip-Hop will take it this far » Notorious Big – Juicy (cf a picture of Notorious big)

Furthermore an artist like Eminem sold more than ten million of copies for his album The Marshall Mathers in 2000 and more all over the world. Besides 50 Cent with three albums sold about 20 millions of album in the worldwide. 2pac who was a rapper from the west coast became the highest selling rapper ever with almost 75,000,000 albums sold in planet earth. (cf a picture of Eminem and Tupac)

Those statistics show how important was the place taken by the rap music in the people’s lives from all the places of the world. At once Rock’nRoll was the music of minorities, rebellions but somehow that music had passed away to let the Hip-Hop entrance in the music industry.
« Who they gonna blame when I’m back number one on the billboard again » 50 Cent – Get Up (cf a picture of 50 cent)

According to Chuck D, the leader of Public Enemy « Sampling basically comes from the fact that rap music is not music. It’s rap over music ».
Hip-Hop was seen by its detractors as a youth game, not a music, because the rappers were not musicians, they were not playing music with an instrument and singing on it. That critic shown how different was and still is the Hip-Hop from other music due to the fact that rapper were not composing music. Indeed rappers were doing their job on beats mixed by dj’s and slice of other songs, it was sampled by a producer throughout sampler, synthesizers and drum machines. It is in that way that rap music is exclusive, the rapper needs to make good rhymes on the beat and good lyrics called « punch lines » nowadays. The work of the Mc is clearly music; it is like singing
“a cappella” with the only power of your voice, rhymes and lyrics.

« At that time they thought that rap was not music (…) we cannot talk about music forbidden anymore » Kool Shen – L’avenir est à nous



Dj’s started to develop techniques of scratching and mixing in a different way to make the sound goes faster and powerful. Their role is to create a melody that can be rapped over by Mc’s.

Dangerous! That is how the Hip-Hop since the apparition of Gangsta rap in the 1990′s is perceived by the journalists and older generations. The lyrics could choc sometimes because of their controversial side, Man’s are accused to promote violence, drugs seller and user, racism and misogyny. As a matter of fact that music was based on the street life in the ghetto, consequently the lyrics are crude and may shock a lot of people.

« You though that we were doing rap only, our neighbourhood was a key point, people were coming from everywhere to find weed » Mafia K’1 fry – Thug life
« Go to sleep bitch, die mother fucker die, why are you still alive how many times I have got to say close your eyes » Eminem (cf a picture of the G-Unit)

However Mc’s were talking about their life in the ghetto in those lyrics, what they have seen, lived and done in the reality of the street. Moreover Hip-Hop was made to make those people from the ghetto express themselves, to make the upper-class listen to their lament: it is the role of the Hip-Hop to shock and provoke in some way.


According to Chris Rock a famous comic « I love Hip-Hop but it is hard to defend it » today more than yesterday with the « Bling Bling » rap and its apology of money, violence, drugs, weapons and easy girls treated like meat, Hip-Hop is more criticized.

Nevertheless we have to put those songs into their context, that type of rap is based on competition, on showing who is the best and the apology of those elements are part of the game it is the so called « ego trip » songs.

« Everybody in Hip-Hop discriminates against gay people ». Kanye West
Most of the Mc’s have clearly some issues with racism and homophobia, the way they are expressing themselves in their lyrics sounds sometimes badly. At once a Mc like Eminem who is white could hardly find his place in that type of music « governed » in major part by black Mcs but due to his talent he is one of the best rapper in the world nowadays.
« If you see a white man, there is a beating which goes with » Sefyu in La vie qui va avec
« You have it in the ass like Laurent Ruquier (a gay presenter) » Salif in Black Skin (cf a picture of Salif)

« Salute, stand to attention, I am the leader like ‘A’ » Bushido (German singer in reference to Adolph Hitler)
In those lyrics, some of us could see racist and homophobe singers and in the other way they could see talkers of the reality of the street. Indeed, Seyfu shows how a white guy is seen by the other from the ghetto and Salif reflect the street’s codes which refers to the fact that you have to be a man and to be with girls and not men. Bushido is flirting with limits of the expression freedom however he just wants to provoke the audience and shock by his lyrics.
The increase of Mc’s led to « clash or beef » between rappers, it means that two groups or Mcs are fighting one against the other on music. Those clash are violent and consist in humiliating the other, it is that cruel practice that the critics do not understand. (cf from the left to the right : the beef between 2pac and Notorious Big, Rohff and Mc Jean Gabin).

« Waiting for the next rumour, just something to say if you talk badly come in front of me son of a bitch » Rohff – Pleure pas
«You will serve as martyr» Mc Jean Gabin – Panam
In the 1990′s when Hip-Hop was at the top of its popularity, an opposition between Mc’s from the West Coast and East Coast was established. Two leaders were fighting each other on songs: 2pac for the West Coast and The Notorious Big for the East Coast. That beef ended with the assassination of 2pac in 1996 and Notorious Big six months later in 1997 in Los Angeles. In France the beef between Mc Jean Gabin and La Mafia K’1 Fry (which included Rohff and Kery James) ended up with a fight in the streets of Paris and a trip in the hospital for Mc Jean Gabin. Those oppositions between Mcs are part of the Hip-Hop music, something born in the ghetto of NYC and where competition similar as fight still exists. Those beef have some good consequences on the performance of the artists and the fans. Indeed, the beef between 50 Cent and Kanye West, the most important Mcs nowadays, had a result on the music industry because the first one sold 691 000 albums and the second one 957 000 both with their latest album. Besides, some Mcs like Eminem or Sinik in France were known due to their talent during clash in the streets of Detroit and Les Ulysses. (cf a from the left to the right : a picture of the beff between 50 cent and Kanye West, a picture of Eminem doing a clash in his movies 8 miles)


« My sister stops rap music instead of doing good rhymes you have to be white to have fans » Despo Rutti – Arretez
Hip-Hop is also accused of being a music done by men only, where there is no place for women. About that critic we can say that rap reflects again the street’s rules where the girls have to survive. It is hard for a girl to be recognized by other Mcs in that type of music; also it might be because fans of rap music are used to listen to men Mc’s and not the contrary. Nevertheless some girls in the US like Lil Kim or Missy Elliot were congratulated for what they have done for that music.

« I’m here to prove that I can do bad ass rap without testoterone » Diam’s – Madame Qui?
In France one of the best seller of rap music is Diam’s, a girl rapper who imposed her style.

As Rock’nRoll, Hip-Hop is often in conflict with the laws of the freedom of expression and the governments everywhere in the world. In the US most of the album’s covers are followed by the mention « Parental advisory » because of the content.



In France, Nicolas Sarkozy, made a complaint in 2006 against  Sniper (a French rap group) because he judged their texts « anti-Semite, racist and insulting » according to him « the democracy, is the right to talk, to create, to say what you think, it is not the right to insult and humiliate »
To answer to that complaint the group made a song called France 2 to explain that they were mad against the French system because of the racism, the difficulties to find a job and why they had said : « France is a bitch ».
Once more the interest of the government for the lyrics shows the popularity of Hip-Hop in France and its power of controversy.

Definitely in struggle with the critic, Hip-Hop and Mcs are also accused of singing in the border of pornography. For exemple Lil Wayne is saying in his hit Lollipop « she licked me like a lollipop » or 50 Cent in Candy Shop « Milk in your mouth girl not in your hand ». Too hard for some critic those lyrics could be found in other type music. Indeed in Disco, Soul or Rock’nRoll sexual lyrics were also criticized. For exemple Diana Ross was saying in Upside down « Boy you turn on me, Inside out and round and round » or Barry White in I only want to be with you « I will be inside of you as you want me in it ».
The only thing differing from Hip-Hop and other type of music is the way they are saying their lyrics. Most of the time Rap music is criticized for their lyrics too violent but it is just the way they are.


Like Mac Donald or Nike, Hip-Hop spread its « brand » in the world. Due to Gangsta Rap and the apology of money that music is seen as a tool of capitalism, another element of the globalization.
Hip-Hop could be found in every corner of the globe, in the Ghetto in the US, in the suburbs in England, France, Germany, Israel or Latin America and Asia. However that type of music cannot be taken for granted in some countries and it appears to the youth population of the world like the American Dream.
In Europe Hip-Hop has developed itself from an underground movement to a popular one and with its own values. In France most of the Mcs have African origins. The well known Mc-Solaar has Senegalese origins, like Booba or Mokobe, besides Rohff has Comorian origins like Soprano and Aketo, Sinik, Rim-K or Demon one have Algerian origins. Without any specific reasons almost all the rappers in France are Muslims and some reference to the Arabic language or that religion is often done in their songs.
According to Diam’s in “Où je vais” « The trend is in the ghetto only stupid people are living in villa »
The amount of people wearing street clothes like 50 Cent or the interest in Hip- Hop for the upper-class are due to the trend that music is gathering. Of course it could be seen as a trend because it is a music made by youth people for youth people and by growing we might not like that music anymore. However that music continues to exist thanks to the new generation and instead of decreasing we can see an increase in fans, dj’s and mcs.
 HYPERLINK « http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel »
To my mind I think that people are concerned with that music because Mcs in Europe or in the Us are trying to deal with a lot of themes. Even if they are known for their « Bling Bling » rap or « Ego Trip » rap all the rappers have the abilities to talk about struggling topics like death, divorce, poverty or paedophilia.
 HYPERLINK « http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel »

In the Us Lil Wayne talked about the Hurricane Katerina in Tie my Hands : « My old city under water, some people are still floating, and they wonder why black people still voting cause your president’s still joking ». (cf a picture of Lil Wayne)

Furthermore Eminem made a song about his offspring in Cleaning out of my closet: « So you could try to justify the way you treated me ‘ma (…) how dare you are trying to take what you didn’t help me to get ». In France, inspired by their own experience Sniper dedicated a song for those who lost a father, victim of divorce in Sans Reperes : « After your departure, I had to make myself clear when she told to the brother now you are the man in the house ».


The famous rap group, which was at the basement of the Hip-Hop in France, were reconsolidated for a song about the education between a father and his child in Laisse pas trainer ton fils : « Is that you want for your son, is that the way you want him to grow (…) I don’t have advise to give (…) but look at him, when he talks listen to him, don’t let him look for the love that he should find in your eyes ».
 HYPERLINK « http://www.daveyd.com/raphist1.html »

 HYPERLINK « http://www.daveyd.com/raphist1.html »

 HYPERLINK « http://www.daveyd.com/raphist1.html »


According to Abd El Malik during an interview for France 2 « Hip-Hop is the music of all types of music thanks to sample which make a mixture of those music » (cf a picture of Abd El Malik)

Recognized as a marginal music, the rise of Hip-Hop goes also with the decline of Funk and Disco. Spread in the whole world, that music has reached a pick of popularity at the beginning of the 21st century. All the Mcs knew the “street life” and all its aspects here is there linked between each other in that specific music due to its own code. However new artists coming from upper-class,  from the opposite sex like Missy Elliot or white like Eminem start to do and  success in Hip-Hop. Is that change that the fans were asking which make the transition between old school and new school. The decline of sales in the music industry is touching Rap music but not the Hip-Hop in its entire sense. For instance the urban art has made its place in Hollywood with the biography of Eminem and 50 Cent in respectively 8 miles and Get rich or dye trying.

In France, some Hip-Hop concerts are now done in the Stade de France which is the biggest stadium in that country and which shows the importance of Hip-Hop in the overall industry. To end up this topic we can affirm that Hip-Hop was not just a trend but will continue to increase in interest.

Music and politics

Introduction

Art is often seen as a way to escape from reality, to enter a new universe, and indeed it is. Art has to create emotions, to make people understand how irrational their life can be or sometimes just to make the beauty hidden from their eyes appears. And nobody knows how Art manage to touch so deeply almost everyone. We can understand the artists but Art remains a mystery. Why do these three notes evoke so many things?  With Art, Man discovered he had the possibility to create things he would never understand.
Art is a piece of eternity and Man needs to believe he can be eternal.
That’s why it’s an original subject to try in this survey to link what seems to be so abstract with a pragmatic and human science: politics. To make this relation appear, we will restrict our work to the specific part of art which is music.

politics is power
music has a power
So we can’t deny a link between music and politics.
This lout syllogism gives the direction of our reflexion. Particularly in the 20th century, examples are numerous of this strong link between music and politics. There are many reasons to this which we probably won’t manage to count all, but our modest aim thought a so large subject is to show how music is deeply rooted in the social context.

We will study three different axes:

How politicians wants to control music

How music can be an influential movement

What is the situation nowadays, how this relation has evolved and what we can hope or fear for the future.

The use of music in politics

As Jacques Attali said, “music is an attribute of political power”. That’s why, in history, music has been widely used by diverse politicians and governments, and for diverse reasons. We will try to understand how music can be useful for politicians.

Music as a means to gather

Let’s see how music can help gather people.
.
The national anthems
Music is used by the states to create a strong symbol. Indeed, today, each country has its own national anthem. This national anthem, for example the French one “La Marseillaise” or the american one “The Star Spangled Banner”, represents the country: it is the symbol of its ideology and of its regime. Each state tries to choose a representative music and a text. This national anthem is played in different circumstances, for instance during official ceremonials or sporting events. The aim is to represent the “idea” of the nation, to gather citizens behind the national flag, behind the ideology, and therefore to create a unity. Of course, this anthem is not what creates the unity of the country, but it is one of the elements, with the culture, the traditions and so on, that creates its identity. The anthem is a patriotic symbol. For example the poem “Star Spangled Banner” was written in 1814 during the war against the British by Francis Scott Key. It is a symbol of their victory and had been very popular in the USA before the Congress decided to make it become the national anthem. At that time, politicians had chosen this poem because it represented the history of the state, and behind that, the ideology which had permitted to create it. Today, this anthem is always a strong symbol: most Americans think that it is representative of the values that symbolises their country. And that’s why, when in 1969 Jimi Hendrix used this song to denounce the war in Vietnam (he played it on his guitar, imitating the sound of bombings and explosions), critics were very hard.
National anthems are used in every country as a symbol representative of the state, to which every citizen can identify himself, and that’s why when a new state is created, the government looks for a song. It is the case of the European Union which has chosen the ninth symphony of Ludwig Van Beethoven, “Ode to Joy”. They have chosen the last movement in particular (the text was written in 1785 by Friedrich von Schiller) because it musically expresses the ideal of peace, liberty and solidarity that those governments want to incarnate.
So, we can say that music, with or without text, can be used as a symbol : the symbol of a history, of an ideal. It has the power to express an identity in which every citizen can recognize himself, and therefore creates a patriotic feeling gathering people.

In political campaigns
Music is sometimes used to gather people during political campaigns. Music is here used as a marketing tool, as a way of promoting their campaign. They usually invite or pay artists to play before their meetings for two reasons: the first is to make people come, and deliver their message to ever more people; the second is to make use of the artist’s popularity.
Let’s take the example of the Congo. In 1993, Denis Sassou N’Guesso made an advert on TV with a song of Koffi Olomidé, a famous musician in Congo. This has improved his popularity, and so he repeated the operation in 2002 with Werra Son, another famous singer, who made several concerts for him. Now, other politicians have understood the importance of music, and some of them have even created their own musical bands: “Bana Poto Poto” supports the mayor of Poto-Poto, the most important district of Brazzaville; “Look Maurel” supports the mayor? Ou major? of Makélékélé, another district of the capital of the Congo … We see here that music has a certain power of gathering. Some politicians use the popularity of different artists to improve their own popularity and to have the possibility to express their message. Music has a great importance in politics, but not only in Congo. If you think about the last presidential campaign in the USA, we can remember that famous artists have also been committed to support different candidates by making concerts, with notably the tour “Vote For Change” where Bruce Springsteen, REM or Pearl Jam played in the most uncertain states to encourage people to vote for John Kerry. In such an uncertain election as this one, we can imagine that this method can have important consequences and we can easily understand why it is used.
We see with these examples that this marketing tool is used in several countries. We can now understand the importance of music for politicians, as a way to make advertising and to increase their popularity by using the popularity of artists. Music, especially with texts, and musicians, with their popularity, has a very important capacity to influence people. Therefore it is logical, that today, this art should be used for marketing.


Music is a means to exist

Now we will see that in history, music has been used by different leaders (and at different periods) to express a political will.
Indeed, art is a mean for each state to express its culture. That’s why, during the Middle-Ages, in Europe, art was used by kings to improve the image of their states (and also their own image) by showing other countries their knowledge and the qualities. This attitude explains for example why Louis XIV financed so many artists like Racine, Molière or Le Brun and particularly in music with Lully. The goal of this operation was in fact to replace Italy as the central nation in Europe. We can also take the example of Joseph II who asked Mozart to write an opera in German for the same reason: to try to stop the domination of Italy in culture and to impose the culture of state. So, music can be used by leaders to develop the importance of their nation (and sometimes selfishly to improve their own image). Music and art in general, is a way to represent a nation and to express a political will.
We can also take the case of Taiwan, at the end of the Second World War. At that time, this country decided to use Western music. The aim of this operation was to distinguish its policy from China. Music is here used to symbolise the policy of a nation. It’s a way of sending a message to other countries.
So, we note with those examples that music can be used to express a will for leaders: a will of domination, of superiority, a will of distinction, … What is important here is that music is used to symbolise an idea. Music is a way for nations to express their identity. And so, music can be a political tool.

Music is a way to control ideas

Music has also been used throughout history by politicians to manipulate people. We will see 2 ways to do that: censorship and propaganda.

The use of censorship
Throughout history, censorship has been employed many times to prevent artists from giving their opinion or to prevent people from listening to a kind of music considered by the leaders as “dangerous”. This censorship has especially been used by totalitarian regimes during the last century. Many regimes have used this method, like Cuba, African dictatorships, or China, but we will only take two revealing examples: Russia and the third Reich.

In Russia, a huge censorship of music was carried out from the late 10’s to the 50’s. Before this period, in Russian cities, people received the influence of jazz and other Western music despite the criticism of the government. But after the revolution, musicians had to create a Soviet music glorifying the revolution. In the 20’s, a certain liberty was offered to them, but not for a long time, because with Staline, the situation changed tremendously. Staline’s theory implied a will to change radically Russian’s culture: Russia had to come back to a popular culture based on traditional values, notably by using the Medias (radio, cinema …). In 1931, the whole culture was controlled by the leaders with the creation of the GOMETS, a kind of secretary of culture: musicians had to create a music celebrating the glory of the state and with the goal of unifying the people in his fight for Communism. From that moment, musicians had to conform to a model defined by Jdanov, in charge of the culture. For the government, the aim of all this action was to prevent Western influences from “poisoning Russian’s consciousness”. In 1947, the action concerned especially jazz, a “middle-class and decadent“kind of music. It was forbidden, even if it had a lot of success with the city’s youth. Those young Russian, the “Stiliagi”, were considered as depraved by the authority and the other citizens. This lasted until the arrival of Krouchtchev, but during this period, the fashion of the “Stiliagi” continued, and several musicians were arrested for not obeying to this law. When Krouchtchev reached power, the situation became easier, but jazz still wasn’t authorised by the government until the late 50’s.

Another example of severe censorship is the third Reich. Indeed, in May 1938, in Düsseldorf, took place an exhibition called “depraved music”. Organised by the nazi leaders, this exhibition showed the different kinds of alleged depraved music: the music of the new school of Vienna, Jazz, the proletarian music… so, all the kind of music which had appeared in Germany for the last 30 years and that rejected the Nazi regime. Those works were presented as crazy or criminal, created by depraved people, which lack sense or were badly realised. The goal of this exhibition is to show to Germans the alleged decadence of their country. But this outstanding event precedes a politic of destruction: the government begins to prevent musicians from working. The case of the third Reich is complex because of the ideology of its leaders. Here the criteria with which music is considered as depraved are both esthetical and ideological. For example, Jazz, considered as a music based especially on rhythm isn’t esthetical, so is forbidden, but the music of Braunfels which is esthetical is also forbidden because of the Jewish origins of its author. From the 20’s, the authorities controlled all the cultural life in Germany in order to decrease this alleged decadence of the country. A commission, the Union of Fight for German’s Culture directed by Rosenberg, was created in order to control the work of artists. From 1933 to 1936 happened a mass destruction of the culture: books are burnt, paintings are confiscated and every kind of “depraved music” (jazz, proletarian music …) and the music of Jewish artists are forbidden.

Today, the situation has changed in Russia and in Germany, but we mustn’t think that censorship has disappeared because it is still used in different countries like in China. Indeed, we can quote the example of a concert of the Rolling Stones planned this year. This concert is authorised only if the band accepts not to play some of their songs (“Brown Sugar”…), qualified by the government as subversive: it talks about sex. In this country, the government still wants to control the ideas of the people.

Those examples show that in history, censorship has been employed many times and is still employed. This can be explained by the necessity for the authorities to prevent their citizens from discovering other cultures or to be influenced by texts that they consider as dangerous for the regime. If we don’t take into account the anti-Semitic character of the nazi policy, which isn’t our subject, we note that music, like the other kinds of art, is a mean to open anyone to other ideas, to other state of mind. Thus censorship is a way to control the citizens and to prevent them from rebelling. Music has the power to open the mind of people. Indeed, music can, with the use of texts bring ideas and philosophy, but music can also be innovative and so, be a way of opening. Therefore, censorship has been used by many regimes to prevent people from thinking differently, but those regimes can also use propaganda to impose their ideas.

The use of propaganda
We will here especially take the case of Russia and Germany to realize how music can be used by politicians to impose their opinions.

In Russia, we can quote the example of the seventh symphony of Chostakovitch : “Leningrad”, written in 1941, year of the invasion of USSR by Germans. This work expresses the feeling of resistance of the Russians against the Nazis. That’s why the Soviet government decided the same year to broadcast this symphony on the radio, in order to become a symbol of resistance and struggle of the country. It was used to give hope and courage to the nation, and so to make it help the government.
But this is not the only case of propaganda based on music in the history of Russia. Indeed, the most revealing example is the one of rock music. At the end of the 50’s, rock music appeared in Russia, despite the will of the authorities. This music had lot of success, especially with young people. At that time, government tried to control the activities of the youth in order to make them assimilate the socialist ideals, and this music, a “cacophony”, according to Khrouchtchev, stood in the way. Therefore, the authorities remained opposed to this new culture for a long time, but the prohibition created the will, for all those young Russians, to listen more and more rock music. Unable to change their musical taste, the government, careful of this movement, finally decided to change its method. It decided to divide the rock scene into two parts: one official and one unofficial. The unofficial bands could always play their music, but the officials, called VIA (instrumental and vocal bands) would be employed by the state. The last ones received also materials of good quality, and possibility to play behind a large public, contrary to the unofficial bands which could only play in little clubs. The VIA had a more important impact than the others. But in exchange for their advantages, the government imposed several conditions : the VIA had to be in the socialist tradition, with names like “the happy boys” or “the blue guitars” (as opposed to “the little red demons”, “the economists”, …) and they had to write songs on subjects like the heroes of spatial conquest, or the success of soviet economy. Finally, until the end of this situation in the late 70’s, the government used rock music as propaganda to convert the youth to the soviet ideal.
Those policies show the will of the governments to use strong methods to impose their ideas. But this regime was not the only one to use propaganda.

In Germany, we have seen in the first part, that censorship was used by the third Reich to impose its ideology. But this regime has also used music as a means of propaganda to control people. At the same time that the alleged depraved music is forbidden, the “real” German’s art is developed. This art had to be based on the German’s tradition with Bach, Mozart, from the romanticism to Wagner. It was to be used to promote German’s heroes, war values, the values at the origin of  “the superiority of German’s race”, beauty, … In 1933, Goebbles creates the Chamber of Culture which was responsible for the cultural life, from the creation to the diffusion of the art (and especially music). Then, in 1936, the regime begins an active cultural policy, with the financing of several works, like those of Orff. In fact, the regime favoured two kinds of music. On the one hand, it has favoured sentimental songs, created for entertainment, in order to take away the citizens from seriousness, to asleep their brains. This effect is strengthened by the fact that the authority sells very cheap radios which broadcast those songs. On the other hand, it favoured a “serious” music: the music of Beethoven, Wagner, Bruckner… and the current music of Orff: this powerful music is able to stimulate each citizen, to create emotions and is especially used during political ceremonies. So, music has been used to lull people’s critical sense and to awake their patriotic feelings.
We can say that this music has in some measure made the policy of the regime possible.

There are other examples of music used as a means of propaganda in different countries and at different periods, even if the political situation is different. We can quote for instance the Zaire, where Mobutu had created during his reign a way to make him popular. In every part of the country, enormous bands where engaged to sing his qualities for about twenty years. At the same time, famous artists, notably Franco Luambo and Tabu Lev, where engaged to compose songs in his glory. This lasted until 1990. This is extremely close to the method that Louis XIV used during his reign. Indeed, the musicians of his court and especially Lully, composed for him diverse operas in which the introductions were written in his glory. This message was then broadcast in the whole “kingdom”.

Finally, we can note that music is an efficient way of making propaganda. Indeed, this is a way to defend its ideas with explicit text, as in the case of rock music in Russia. Thus music offers a means to convince people, to make them believe in you. But it’s also an efficient method to impose ideas unconsciously: it can allow politicians to lull people’s critical sense, to prevent them from thinking, and it allows stimulating them when necessary, for instance a political meeting. It is a means to dominate people. Music, even if its reputation is to be the less ideological art is one of the arts most used for propaganda. A government which knows how to use the weapon can be very dangerous as history has proved.

To conclude, music can be influenced a lot by politicians, in order to gather people, to represent their country or even to impose ideas, but now, we will see that the contrary is also possible: music can have an impact on politics

Subversive music

Different kind of subversive music

The concept of identity is the main issue when we think of music and politic. Indeed each in-group or community has an identity. This identity is based on cultural values and on the world in which the community exists and evolves. Since music enables to construct an identity (throughout the lyrics for example), society can use music to cement in-groups, to unite members of these in groups and make them support and help each other.
So we understand music can also be used as a political flag. That’s why we are going to study several kinds of music which were forged by communities to exorcize their problems. In this discussion we only speak about the examples of Jazz, Rock, and Hip Hop music which are quite representatives of different types of comitted-music.
There are different ways to extol ideas throughout music: it can be done with lyrics, with the behaviour of musicians and with the shows performed by them…
First we can quote the example of Fela Kuti who uses music as a great political weapon. In 1969 Fela and his band Koola Lobitos went to Los Angeles and discovered James Brown, the Black Panthers and Pan-Africanism. When Fela and the band, re-named Nigeria 70, returned home to Africa they not only had a new name but also a new-found political consciousness and a new sound–a blend of Jazz, Nigerian Highlife, and raw, dirty Funk–that Fela called « Afro-Beat. »
Thanks to tracks like « Expensive Shit, » with its outspoken lyrics criticizing the oppressive military regime, and to the free shows he played weekly (and all night long) at Kalalkuta’s « Shrine » club, Fela, who was almost never seen without an enormous marijuana spliff in his mouth, became a sensation among Nigeria’s huge population of poor. Fela’s opinions and popularity did not go unnoticed by the government he railed against.
In 1977, 1000 soldiers attacked Kalakuta, fracturing Fela’s skull, burning his recording studio, and killing his 82 year old mother by throwing her from a second-story window. Fela’s response was to record the blistering « Zombie, » a vicious musical attack on the soldiers who’d harmed him. He was then exiled to Ghana, only to return (now calling his band Egypt 80), form his own Movement of the People (MOP) political party, and then be imprisoned  and on for much of the 80s.

ROCK MUSIC

Now let’s study the example of Rock music. Rock music stems from blues music which was born during the 19th century in the Mississippi delta. The roots of Blues music were the work songs and the religious songs of the American black slaves, ballads of persons without fixed abode and itinerant musicians and gospel.
So the context of racism and exclusion unites the black community and lead to blues music and then to Rock music which is sung by white people.
Rock music first revealed a gap between the generations and was criticized a lot by conservationists and puritans.
What revealed the subversive aspect of rock music in America was the Vietnam war denounced by many musicians like the Doors or Bob Dylan. For example in the song « Masters of Wars » he wrote:

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

What is ironical is that songs which were committed against Vietnam and recorded during the war were used in movies about Vietnam. For example in Apocalypse Now (which tries to exorcize the recollection of the only lost American war and seems to agree with this war), « The End » of the Doors was used whereas the band did not agree with this war.
The Hippies also denounced Vietnam by extolling their message « Peace and Love ».
We can also quote the examples of Jimi Hendrix who, in Woodstock, played and destroyed the American anthem with his guitar and bomb noises.
Another interesting example is the one of the White Panthers, a political party created by the Rock band mc5. They were of course inspired by the movement called Black Panthers in which black people militantly struggled for ethnic minority and working class emancipation. The White Panthers stand in the vanguard of the most powerful movement for social change in America, that dynamic episode generally referred to as Rock n Roll. It was the sole organization in the entire history of struggle against the oppression of Rock in the United States.
The ideals and activities were very radical and it was at one time assailed by FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover as « the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States. Here is their nine point program:

1. WE WANT POWER TO DETERMINE THE DESTINY OF THE OPPRESSED.
We believe that oppressed people will not be free until we are able to determine our destinies in our own communities ourselves, by fully controlling all the institutions which exist in our communities.
2. WE WANT FULL EMPLOYMENT FOR OUR PEOPLE.
We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every person a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American businessmen will not give full employment, then the technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.
3. WE WANT AN END TO THE ROBBERY BY THE CAPITALISTS
We believe that this government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities.
4. WE WANT DECENT VENUES, FIT FOR THE SHELTER OF HUMAN BEINGS.
We believe that if the government will not give decent venues to our oppressed communities, then housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that the people in our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent venues for the people.
5. WE WANT DECENT EXPOSURE FOR THE MASSES THAT REVEALS THE TRUE NATURE OF THIS DECADENT SOCIETY.
We believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of the self. If you do not have knowledge of yourself and your position in the society and in the world, then you will have little chance to know anything else.
6. WE WANT COMPLETELY FREE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLE.
We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventive medical programs to guarantee our future survival.
7. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO INDUSTRY BRUTALITY OF ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLE INSIDE THE UNITED STATES.
We believe that the government of the United States uses its domestic enforcement agencies to carry out its program of oppression against rock n roll inside the united States. We believe it is our right, therefore, to defend ourselves against such armed forces and that all oppressed people should be armed for self defense of our homes and communities against these forces.
8. WE WANT TRIALS BY A JURY OF PEERS FOR ALL PERSONS CHARGED WITH SO-CALLED CRIMES UNDER THE LAWS OF THIS COUNTRY.
We believe in the ultimate elimination of all wretched, inhuman media institutions, because the masses are victims of oppressive conditions which are the real cause of their imprisonment.
9. WE WANT LAND, BREAD, HOUSING, EDUCATION, CLOTHING, JUSTICE, PEACE AND PEOPLE’S COMMUNITY CONTROL OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

In URSS, Rock music had also a great success because it contained more forbidden things than in Western countries. Especially, this music came from the capitalism and thus was a threat for the young people’s minds. Although it was very hard to get instruments and records, young Soviets loved it and can forge their identity in it.
With black market, it was broadcast through URSS. Whereas official rock bands spoke about monuments or Russian heroes, non-official bands wrote lyrics in which denunciations were not too direct (because of the repression).
In UK, Rock music also cemented communities around political issues. For instance, the punks of the Clash were strongly committed against Margaret Thatcher who set up ultra-liberalism and thus triggered the riots of Brixton in 1981.

« Guns of Brixton » of the Clash:

You know it means no mercy
They caught him with a gun
No need for the Black Maria
Goodbye to the Brixton sun

You can crush us
You can bruise us
Yes, even shoot us
But oh-the guns of Brixton

When they kick at your front door
How you gonna come?
With your hands on your head
Or on the trigger of your gun

You can crush us
You can bruise us
Yes, even shoot us
But oh-the guns of Brixton

Shot down on the pavement
Waiting in death row
His game is called survivin’
As in heaven as in hell

At last, we can quote the Sex Pistols who recorded their own version of the British anthem « God save the Queen ».
In France, the same phenomenon happened: a lot of French rock bands are politically committed. For exemple, Mano Negra, Noir Désir.

JAZZ

Jazz is surely the most famous and spectacular example of a music that is born from a cultural and political movement. To simplify, jazz is a meeting: a meeting between the Westen music, and the African one. All the old harmonic concepts were played on the old african rythms.
The situation takes place at the beginning of the 20th century. The black community is oppressed and would try to shout to the world its existence by proceeding with the most important innovation ever made in music.
Some leaders from this period would become models for the next generations…The most popular is certainly Louis Amstrong (picture) now considered as the man who invented jazz.

In a few years Amstrong changed his image of a young and incompetent black musician into a clown loved by all the planet. So loved that some black musicians considered he was no longer representative of their music. Amstrong had a contested end of career, even if many of us just know him by that, losing all his faculties and his clearness about the musical evolutions but never losing his deep musicality.
Lots of brilliant musicians brought their personality and their talent to this new form of music. It was shocking, scorned by the old classical musicians: just a black music, with all that it implied in this society. A group of people was identifying itself in music, jazz was a way to show to the entire world all the potential the USA was holding with this under estimated community.
But this new music was so rich and had such promising future that it was impossible to keep it in the black community. Lots of white musicians understood this was a great evolution and begin to play like blacks. Although in many cases formations were not mixed, we can consider that this same center of interest contributed a lot in making the mentality evolve. Music has a great power of reunification. But it wasn’t the moment for reunification at all: in fact we were just before the WW2 and segregation is at his maximum. So, in this atmosphere of conflict and to fight against the attempt of some white people to use jazz for their own hands, some brilliant musicians created the be-bop. Charlie Parker (picture), Dizzie Gillespie, etc. would try to reconquer their music by attempting to remove all the western culture from it. The tempo becomes very high, the rhythm more and more important and it’s now clear that this music has to be so difficult that a white musician would never manage to play it.
“ Bop kills our music, it’s a shame.”, Satchmo alias Louis Amstrong said. However Be-bop was not a musical innovation rather, above all it was a political and social reaction. And with it the black community hoped it had found its cultural identity.

But in 1955,at the age of 35, the genious Parker “Bird” dies in a car crash and with him all the illusions on the american society disappear. The segregation is always very strong, and Bird enters the legend as a martyr: the most famous creator of music who never managed to live from it whereas lots of white musicians who played it after him did.

Once again, in 1955, the black community is confronted with the lost of a symbol, and in parallel to the stealing of its own music by the white world. 1955 is the real beginning of the war against discrimination in the USA, with the famous arrest of Mrs Rosa Parks. It is in this social context that black musicians will create the free jazz.
Always with this ambition to remove all the old notions reused by whites, some black musicians would give a rising place to the political message. The lyrics become violent, frequently precisely engaged. This new generation qualifies it as furious. Free jazz is a culture of opposition, of resistance. Even in the details of the music everybody can feel that. Harmony is frequently forgotten, there’s no need of melody any more. And we witness to the appearance of new sounds; all that can produce a sound is used. Saxophoniste are trying to strike their keys, everyone can shout, a simple melody form can be used again and again so as to create an athmosphere of obsession. They want to transpose in sounds the anger they have to free. The free jazz is maybe the more deeply political music ever imagined. Remember Arshie Shepp in 1965 saying:
“ We are all convinced that all the different forms of jazz must be developed to coincide with a completly new artistic, social, cultural and economical context… we can’t deny that the origins of music and all his subsequent evolutions are deeply rooted in the social structures.”
In parallel, John Coltrane was thinking “Music is an instrument.”
Concerning the names, we can quote Ornette Coleman a famous alto player who really launches the main ideas in 1960 with the first really “free disc”.
We can find in the career of Charlie Mingus some first steps of Free, but this movement was engraved in the marble by John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Don cherry and all their disciples.

After the free jazz, this great history of the segregation in the USA ended progressively and jazz gave birth to all sorts of music not really linked to the initial contestation. The artistic aspect recovered its foreground and we can’t count all the currents directly influenced by jazz.

In conclusion, I noticed that everybody now agrees on the fact that jazz has been a sort of track race through the 20th century between the black innovations and the white exploitations. Jazz is a great example of a music that is a witness of a century.

HIP HOP MUSIC

Now we are going to study the example of Hip Hop music. Rap music was born in the American ghettos during the 20th century. Its roots are the Last Poets in 1960 which were American black militants. They added rhymes and percussions to their revolutionary messages.
With them, the main concept of Hip Hop music was born: broadcasting new ideas, convincing people, denouncing social, racial and political issues. Its lyrics emphasize on these ideas: they are written in order to hit the listener.
After the birth of sampling machine, mixing console and the scratch, Hip Hop music grew.
The ideological root of Rap music is Afrika Bambaka who was member of a gang. Since he witnessed many friends’ deaths, he extolled his African roots and way of life. He wanted to end the cycles of violence which exist in the American streets.
With the Zulu Nation, his message was « Peace, Love and having fun ». Then with the appearance of battle (which are musical fight), lyrics began to change: they spoke more and more about mafia and violence in the streets, especially with Kool G Rap.
One among the most important rap bands is born in the eighties: Public Enemy. With their military image (such as the Black Panthers) they extolled self-defense with weapons against the supremacy of white people. Their music leads to the birth of other bands which were seen as political threats by the FBI and government. Thus they were spied and followed in the streets. For example, Ice-T did a record called Cop Killer which was barred from sale in America.
Hip Hop music also exploded in other countries such as UK, France… In France the Hip Hop movement has been really strong for the last 20 years. But French Hip Hop music describes other issues than American Hip Hop (for example the living in the « cités », the French policy…).
In the last ten years, American Hip Hop has exploded when Gangsta Rap (in which lyrics are often stories of drive-by-shooting and dealing stories) appeared. This music is still committed as we can see during Bush’s election in November 2004. Here are two verses of a song written by Eminem called Mosh in which he strongly criticizes the war in Iraq and the lies of Bush:

All the people up top, on the side and the middle, from the ghetto, lets all form and stomp just a little
Just let it gradually build, from the front to the back
All you can see is a sea of people, some white and some black
Don’t matter what colour, all that matters is we’re gathered together
To celebrate for the same cause, no matter the weather
If it rains, let it rain, yeah the wetter the better
They ain’t gon’ stop us, they cant, were stronger now more then ever
They tell us no we say yeah, they tell us stop we say go
Rebel with a rebel yell, raise hell, we gon let em? No
Stomp, push, shove, mush… ###### Bush, until they bring our troops home
Come On

And as we proceed to mosh through this desert storm
And these closing statements if they should argue
Let us beg to differ
As we set aside our differences
And assemble our own army
To disarm this weapon of mass destruction
That we call our president for the present
And mosh for the future of our generation
To speak and be heard
Mr. President, Mr. Senator

Another interesting example is this song of Mr Lif against the Bush administration called « Home of the Braves » and recorded in 2002:

Headline: Bush steals the presidency
He needs the backing of the media what could the remedy be?
The country’s headed for recession reminiscent of the Great Depression
Are lives worth a world of power? Easy question
Planes hit the towers and the Pentagon
Killing that government wasn’t dependant on
It’s easy to control the scared so they keep us in fear
With their favorite Middle Eastern demon named Bin Laden this year
Bush disguises blood lust as patriotism
Convincing the living to love « Operation Let’s Get ‘Em »
But when he realized we don’t support their attacks
They needed something to distract, hmm, anthrax
This further demonizes Afghanis
So Americans cheer while we kill their innocent families
And what better place to start a war
To build a pipeline to get the oil that they had wanted before
America supported the Taliban
To get Russia out of Afghanistan
That’s how they got the arms in
They’re in a war against the Northern Alliance
And we can’t build a pipeline in hostile environments
Here’s what your history books won’t show:
You’re a dead man for fucking with American dough
They killed several birds with one stone
While you’re at home with anti-terrorism up in your dome
But my eyes are wide open and my TV is off
Great, ’cause I save on my electricity cost
And you can wave that piece of shit flag if you dare
But they killed us because we’ve been killing them for years

Means for musicians to express their ideas

There are several ways for musicians to give a message to people. We will see here three examples of those means.

Concerts
Concerts enable musicians to play in front of their public and broadcast their messages throughout their music, their behaviour and their speeches. Musicians can also choose to play in order to claim something. For instance, several years ago, Noir Desir played in Vitrolles to support the “Sous-marin”, a club which had to close because of the repressive policy of the town council (the mayor was a FN member). This concert was given to support the club and to denounce the policy used. So, we can say that concerts can be a way for artists to express a message, by their music or the context of their concert and, moreover, it enables the listeners to gather, so concerts enable to cement the communities.

Festival
Festivals are more and more frequent today. Those meetings can be political for two reasons:
They are created in order to claim and solve some issues.
They gather a lot of people.
The festival of Woodstock in 1969 is the best example. In 1969, this meeting was created in order to protest against the war of Vietnam. Indeed, lots of artists were gathered to express a message of peace and of love. We can quote Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana or Joe Cooker. 400000 people came to this festival to support this cause. So, festival can be a way to send a critical message to politicians and governments, but it can also be a way to support a party: in France “la fête de l’humanité” is in fact meeting of the communist party were, moreover political speeches, concerts are organised. Artists can so be a means to gather different people and support politicians.

Clips
Clips are also ways of broadcasting ideas. Artists can mix their lyrics with short movies in order to give a powerful message. And the effects are so powerful that a lot of video clips are forbidden.
During the American election, a lot of musicians made songs to make people vote and choose one of the two candidates. For instance, the clip associated to the song called Mosh of Eminem (which we quoted before) shows American men coming back from Iraqi and facing with the re-engaging in war because of the re-election of Bush and having to leave again their family.

The present situation

What is the link between politics and music nowadays?

With the success of some Rap band like Run DMC, the majors began to be interested in this new music which can make them earn a lot of money. Thus a lot of Hip Hop bands or singers who were only interested in easy money appeared and became famous (for example Puff Daddy).
They are entertainers instead of being spokesmen for their communities.
Thus their music became exclusively commercial and their priorities were easy listening songs with weaker messages. That’s why some singers founded their own labels.
In the last ten years, Hip Hop music has exploded when Gangsta Rap (in which lyrics are often stories of drive-by-shooting and dealing stories) appeared. With less and less great ideas and more and more materialism and sexism, Hip Hop has lost a lot of its credibility.
However a lot of hip hop bands are still politically committed as we can see in the musical recent commitment against Bush for example. Nowadays, the story of Hip Hop music is closely linked with the one of majors and labels. But it still represents a way for people of the ghettos to go out and survive in the legality.
Concerning jazz, it’s quite clear that the situation has evolved a lot. With the lost of a real political engagement, old forms of jazz became quickly obsolete.
There are still musicians engaged but it’s not representative of a social movement any more. With the disappearance of a political meaning, this music lost the main part of its strength.
Ex: Charlie Haden and his liberation orchestra

Since the 80s, rock musicians have been less committed than during the 60s and 70s. The most famous rock characters have been less committed than before and their lyrics less important than the melodic aspect. Moreover as for Hip Hop music, it has been managed by producers who are always strangling the bands. Since they are only interested in their sales and their profits, they put bands under pressure. Now the only commitment we can find in Rock music is often related to majors or CD-piracy. The committed artists are now self-produced. Thus their lyrics can be more subversive and committed. But they do not reach as much people as if their records were broadcast by majors.
And thus their « political power » is very limited.

The link between music and politics is now anecdotic.

A rising link between music and economy

The growing link between music and economy can be a subject in oneself. And it causes lots of eternal debates: Why is music so linked to economy now? Hasn’t it ever be the same until now? We don’t have any magical answer, but there’s a lot of signs which tends to prove that never the impact of money on an artistic domain had been so strong.
Producers give less freedom to artists; it’s more and more directed by financial specialists. To face the hypothetic crisis due to the hacking, almost all the famous labels have entered a policy of security. No more trust in new artist, exploiting the old and sure records as much as possible, and cracking down on illegal down loaders. Of course there are still producers that can follow an artist an entire life just because of a feeling, an idea that the dream can come true. It’s a risk that’s only taken by independent labels now and plenty of musicians regret that.

The role of music in commercial television adversiting

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

1. Introduction

1.1. Managerial Relevance

1.2. Academic Relevance.

1.3. Problem Statement

1.4 Structure of the Thesis

1.5 Planning of the Chapters

2. Theories of other specific atmospherics

2.1. Atmospherics of stimuli

2.2. The characteristics of atmospherics

2.2.1. Categorisation

2.2.2. Quality perception

2.2.3. Emotional state and consistency

2.2.4. Aesthetics

2.3. The relation with atmospheric music

2.3.1. Conclusion

3. The structure and effect of music

3.1. Introduction

3.2. Music structured

3.3. Music effects

3.4. Elements of music

3.5. Music and consistency

3.6. The psychological view of music

4. Conclusion

4.1. What is the role of music in commercial television advertising

4.2. Discussion

4.3. Recommendations

4.3.1. Managerial

4.3.2. Academic

Reference list

Executive summary

This thesis is written to finalize the Business Studies Bachelor. It is a fully literature- based  thesis  so  only  literature  research  is  involved.  This  thesis  is  about  the  role  of  music  in  commercial  television  advertising.  To  reach  a  satisfying  solution  to  this  problem statement the position of the theories about music in commercial television advertising compared with theories of atmospherics in general were investigated. And also how, when and why music works in commercial television advertising has been examined.

The results of the literature search and research can be summarized as a combination of different articles with different contents. By structuring the thesis like this a new and orderly thesis is formulated.

The  position  of  the  atmospheric  music  within  atmospherics  in  general  is  very important.  Music  helps  to  shape  the  overall  atmosphere  in  commercial  television advertising and therefore has an important and inevitable role within atmospherics in general.   Characteristics   of   atmospherics   like   quality   perception,   influence   of  emotional state, atheistic etc. also count for music specifically. Models and theories  like the Mehrabian-Russell model and Scherer‘s theory can also be applied at music while they were designed for atmospherics in general.

Music has two main effects: enriching the key message and influencing the emotional  state. The emotional state is a complicated phenomenon. By influencing the emotional  state  several  sub-effects  occur.  These  effects  are  recall,  rejection  or  acceptance  of  media claims, level of attention, brand attitude and product choice.

Music  works  best  when  it  is  linked  with  positive  moods  and  positive  incentives. Music  also  works  when  there  is  a  ”fit‘  between  the  music  and  the  product  or  commercial   television   advertisement.   So   consistency   is   very   important   for   a commercial  to  be  affective  considering  music.  Psycho-sociologically  music  works  better for men when it is played loud and better for women when it is not played loud.

Music is often a vital aspect of creating an overall positive atmosphere. Therefore is  music seems to work and is used very often. By shaping the overall atmosphere music has a significant influence. The customer is constantly in a particular emotional state.
When  this  state  gets  influenced  and  affected,  people  notice  it.  Music  is  such  an element, which can influence and affect human natures emotional state.

It  can  be  strongly  concluded  that  the  role  of  music  in  commercial  television advertising  is  large.  Nowadays  the  television  already  indicates  the  importance  of  music because a lot of commercial television advertisements contain music.

1. Introduction

Marketing is a hot subject nowadays and different kinds of marketing tools spam the customer. It is even said that there is an overkill of marketing. Marketing is a huge phenomenon and has several important subparts. One of these subparts is advertising. Everywhere   you   go   advertisement   gets   thrown   to   you.   The   challenge   for   the marketers is to distinguish their selves from other companies. One tool to achieve that  is to use music. Music in advertising is used everywhere: TV, radio, the Internet, on the street etc. One of the most used channels of advertisement is television. The costs  of  television  advertisement  give  an  indication  of  the  importance  and  power  of  this  channel.  This enormous powerful channel combined with music creates a very strong formula.   Advertisers   frequently   incorporate   music   backgrounds   in   television commercials as a means of improving effectiveness. Music has not only been used as  a background in advertisements but also in stores and offices and has been reported to strongly influence listeners‘ emotions and behaviors, which emphasizes the vigour of  music.  (Alperts  &  Maltz,  2003).  Their  survey  indicates  the  consciousness  and significance of music in especially commercial television advertising.

1.1. Managerial Relevance

Music in commercial television advertising has been challenged a lot and is therefore a  very  interesting  topic.  It  is  all  about  how  much,  when  and  why  music  is  used  in commercial television advertising. What kind of music is associated to different kind of  products,  what  is  the  role  of  music  concerning  consumer‘  feelings  towards  commercial  television  advertising?  But  also  the  assumption  that  background  music used  in  commercials  becomes  associated  with  the  advertised  product  and  influence product  choice  through  classical  conditioning.  —The  role  of  music  in  audience responses   to   commercials   received   increasing   attention.   The   role   of   music   in marketing   and   consumer   behavior   research   has   been   addressed   in   education,  psychology,  communication  and  other  fields  to  determine  its  effects  on  behavior,  mood  and  preferences.  Discussing  how,  when  and  why  music  works  seems  to  be appropriate  to  understanding  the  role  of  music  in  communications  and  commercial  television  advertising“  (Alperts  &  Maltz,  2003).  Music  is  a  very  useful  tool  for  persuasion.  Exploring  just  why  this  is  useful  and  how  music  should  be  used  is  an important  area  for  a  manager  to  know,  because  music  can  strongly  influence  the customer.

1.2. Academic Relevance

This  thesis  contains  a  summary  of  several  articles  about  music  in  commercial  television  advertising  and  atmospherics  in  general.  All  these  articles  together  will  formulate  this  thesis.  The  articles  differ  from  each  other  and  by  combining  several important aspects and factors of the different articles this thesis will be structured and formulated. By combining several different articles the subject becomes more orderly. But besides the specified role of music in commercial television advertising, a part of  the thesis will contain theories from other atmospherics. Theories that show a relation with theories of the specific atmospheric music. First there are some general theories  that will lead to theories that are related and connected to music. This funnel approach will show some relations and connection from a different side than the side which one is used to. This gives an indication of the importance of the atmospheric music.

1.3. Problem Statement

The  problem  statement  of  this  thesis  is:  ”What  is  the  role  of  music  in  commercial  television advertising?‘ To be able to answer this problem statement, the question will  be subdivided through several research questions:
ñ    What  is  the  position  of  the  theories  about  music  in  commercial  television advertising compared with theories of atmospherics in general?
ñ    How does music work in commercial television advertising?

ñ    When does music work in commercial television advertising?

ñ    Why does music work in commercial television advertising?

1.4. Structure of the Thesis

The  thesis  will  be  fully  based  on  literature  research.  First  a  broader  view  will  be shown  by  looking  at  atmospherics  in  general  and  several  other  atmospherics  but  music.  This  is  to  give  an  indication  of  the  importance  of  the  specific  atmospheric music. After this, exploring and comparing literature will answer the three research questions about commercial television advertising. Through these research questions,  the problem statement can be answered by formulating the final conclusion.

1.5. Planning of the Chapters

The planning of the chapters will be as followed. After the introduction (chapter one),  the  broader  view  and  funnel  approach  will  be  formulated  in  chapter  two.  In  which some basic theories and examples of atmospherics will be shown.
In  chapter  three  the  research  questions  concerning  music  in  commercial  television advertising will be dealt with. This is the main body of this thesis. So, formulating theories  and  sense  around  the  questions  how,  when  and  why  does  music  work  in commercial advertising. From the theory of these four research questions a conclusion can  be  drawn  and  this  will  be  the  answer  to  the  four  research  questions  and  the
problem statement (chapter four).

2. Theories of other specific atmospherics

In  this  chapter  several  theories  concerning  atmospherics  are  mentioned  to  find answers   to   research   question   one.   Beside   these   theories,   some   examples   of  atmospherics and situations where atmospherics play an important role are formulated to give an indication of atmospherics in general. The sub paragraphs 2.2.1. till 2.2.5. show  the  atmospherics  characteristics  which  are  interesting  to  consider  for  the atmospheric  music.  This  is  also  shown  visually  by  figure  2.2.  At  the  end  of  this  chapter the link with the specific atmospheric music is explained and the importance of music within the overall subject is shown.

2.1. Atmospherics of stimuli

Much can be gained by examining the role of atmospherics. Kotler (1973) pictured the  phenomenon  ”atmospherics‘  (environmental  cues)  to  describe  the  intentional  control and manipulation of environmental cues.   Environmental psychologists have known  for  almost  four  and  a  half  decades  that  the  environment  is  capable  of  influencing a wide range of behaviors and that consumers do respond to stimuli found in these environments (Douglas Hoffman & Turley, 2002). Within a business context,  atmospheric elements such as exterior, interior design, lighting, and so on, compose the  set  of  stimuli.  Music  is  also  such  an  atmospheric  element  but  it  has  its  own characteristics, which differ from the examples mentioned above (such as loudness,  tempo). The responses of customers to the set of stimuli are influenced by three basic emotional states: pleasure, arousal and dominance. The first is an affectual reaction,  labelled pleasure-displeasure. This entails whether individuals perceive the environment as enjoyable or not enjoyable. The second dimension relates to arousal. It assesses how much the environment stimulates the individual. The third dimension is  dominance,  which  concerns  whether  individuals  feel  dominant  (in  control)  or submissive  (under  control)  in  the  environment  (Yalch  &  Spangenberg,  2000).  The eventual  responses  can  be  characterized  as  approach  or  avoidance  behaviors.  The customer can either feel approached or avoided by the set of stimuli. This is shown by figure 2.1. below which is a model based on the original Mehrabian-Russel Model.

Set of Stimuli
Emotional states:

Pleasure – Displeasure Arousal œ Non-arousal  Dominance – Submissiveness


Approach or avoidance behavioral responses

Figure 2.1. The Mehrabian-Russell Model

According to Douglas Hoffman and Turley (2002), firms should build environments  that  achieve  a  balance  between  two  primary  objectives.  First  develop  environments  that appeal to consumer pleasure and arousal states while avoiding atmospheres that  create submissiveness. Secondly construct environments that facilitate the operational  ease and efficiency of the firm.

But  what  is  the  relationship  between  the  set  of  stimuli  and  customers‘  mood  state? According to an article of Spies, Hesse & Loesch (1997) a cognitive interpretation of  a  situation  precedes  and  determines  the  emotional  reaction.  In  this  article  Scherer  (1984) assumes that there are five stages of cognitive interpretation, called stimulus  evaluation  checks,  with  different  qualities  of  emotions  being  elicited  at  each  stage Spies, Hesse & Loesch, 1997). The stages are:

ñ    Stage 1: novelty and unexpectedness of physical stimuli are evaluated.

ñ    Stage 2: a stimulus is evaluated as good or bad according to prior experiences.

ñ    Stage 3: a situation is appraised with respect to its goal relevance.

ñ    Stage 4: can one cope with the situation.

ñ    Stage 5: a comparison with norms and standards takes place.

The novelty and unexpectedness of the first stage should create interest when they are moderate. A high degree of novelty and unexpectedness subjects creates reactions like fear  and  anger.  The  goal  relevance  mentioned  under  stage  three  contains  that  if  a situation is favourable to the achievement of a person‘s present goal, happiness and satisfaction will be obtained.  Otherwise, the person will feel again anger and fear.

The Mehrabian-Russell Model and Scherer‘ five stage theory can be applied at several  atmospherics. Section 2.2. shows some examples of the effect of atmospherics and the underlying theories.

2.2. The characteristics of atmospherics  One of the reasons that it is interesting to take a look at other specific atmospherics in connection with music, is that the appropriateness of background music helps shape the  overall  atmosphere  in  stores  and  commercial  television  advertising.  In  other  words, music is often a vital aspect of creating an overall positive atmosphere. Babin,  Chebat and Michon (2004) did some research concerning consumers‘ perception of  atmospherics   and   the   subject   sensory   stimuli.   They   found   several   connections  between   specific   psychological   patterns   of   the   human   mind   and   the   use   of  atmospherics.

Categorization
Quality
perception

Aesthetics
Characteristics
of
atmospherics        Influence emotional state

Consistency

Figure 2.2. Characteristics of atmospherics

Selections  of  these  findings  are  mentioned  in  detail  below  in  paragraph  2.2.1.  till

2.2.4. to help to show relation between music and other atmospherics.

2.2.1. Categorisation

Consumers  associate  certain  colours,  designs,  sounds  etc.  with  certain  brands,  co- operations,  companies  etc.  Consumers  recognize  a  typical  ”fast  food‘  restaurant  by bright colour schemes, plastic laminated furniture décor and bright lights. These are characteristics   not   highly   associated   with   ”fine   dining‘.   Also   certain   personnel  characteristics such as manner of dress and body size are congruent with consumers‘  mental representations of retail salespeople and service providers (Babin, Chebat & Michon, 2004).
Additionally,  Fiske  (1982)  presents  theory  and  evidence  suggesting  a  consistent  tendency  for  people  to  prefer  other  people  whose  characteristics  and  mannerisms  match the expected social stereotype. Here can be concluded that peoples perceptions  of  atmospherics  affect  peoples  expectations  by  being  similarly  or  different  from familiar type. Especially stereotypes are a very sensitive anchor for the consumer. Not  only considering other characteristics of human beings but also of companies, brands,  commercials and services.

2.2.2. Quality perception

Product   selections   framed   by   an   environment   with   bright   lights   and   popular  background  music  are  generally  rated  lower  in  quality  than  the  same  product  selections  displayed  in  a  softly  lit  place with  classical  background  music.  Furniture fashion items tend to be evaluated less favourably when framed by warm colours than by cool colours (Babin, Chebat & Michon, 2004). Further, it is unlikely that even a fashionable clothing item showing no indication of every being used, would be rated as high in quality by most consumers in a thrift store as it would when displayed at a more elite store (Babin, Chebat & Michon, 2004).
One explanation for such findings is that congruent cues are more easily processed. Mentally, the fewer mismatches a consumer is forced to accommodate or reconcile,  the more something is preferred. Thus, it is likely that appropriateness and quality are related positively and this might become even more likely as a shopping experience orientated toward prestige. Higher appropriateness is associated with higher product quality ratings. For example,  when  mall  characteristics  are  perceived  to  be  appropriate,  respondents  tend  to  rate products sold there as higher in quality. Higher quality perceptions not only facilitate a  consumer  fulfilling  specific  product  purchase  intentions,  but  they  also  reward  the customer   by   providing   a   more   gratifying   experience.   Therefore,   as   consumers  cognitively evaluate a shopping environment‘s products as higher in quality, which is  determined partly by appropriateness perceptions, the environment is likely perceived as more exciting (Babin, Chebat & Michon, 2004).

2.2.3. Emotional state and consistency

Additionally, the consistent atmospherics and higher quality perceptions create better  feelings  within  a  customer,  creating  more  value  and  more  of  a  desire  to  remain,  interact and return to the environment. Together with creating better feelings, pleasure can  facilitate  task  completion.  Psychological  experiments  demonstrate  that  subjects  with  mildly  positive  moods  are  more  efficient  in  completing  simulated  consumer  choice  tasks  than  are  those  with  a  less  positive  mood.  Other  research  done  by Obermiller   and   Bitner   (1992)   showed   that   retail   products   are   evaluated   more positively  in  an  environment  eliciting  pleasant  compared  to  unpleasant  emotional  reactions. In a positive mood positive aspects of a situation are assumed to come to mind more easily, to be more accessible than negative aspects. Like Morris said, —a person in a positive mood seems to view the world through rose-coloured glasses“.

Experimental    results    suggested    that    increased    positive    affect    (pleasure    and satisfaction)  is  experienced  when  a  store‘s  scent  and  music  match  in  terms  of  their  degree of arousal. That is, shoppers react better to the combination of either a highly arousing  scent  with  highly  arousing  music  or  a  low  arousal  scent  with  low  arousal  music  than  they  do  to  either  mismatch  combination.  Here,  the  mismatch  in  the arousing  nature  of  the  two  elements  may  contribute  to  perceptual  inappropriateness  causing  systematic  changes  in  customer  comfort  level  (Babin,  Chebat  &  Michon
2004).  The  appearance  of  an  unfamiliar  element  within  an  assumed  as  normal  arrangement,  or  an  element  that  takes  on  an  unusual  character,  can  cause  it  to  be viewed as less typical perhaps even evoking a perceptual contrast. Therefore a match between stimuli is essential.
In extreme, among consumers strongly motivated by a desire to experience something totally   new,   a   negative   perceived   appropriateness-affect   relationship   might   be observed. This is also emphasized by Berlyne (1971) in the article of Spies, Hesse and Loesch (1997) who claim that concerning the layout of a store, the store should be clear but not too simple and predictable. A possibility of surprise and unexpectedness  should also be present.

2.2.4. Aesthetics

According to the article of Bitner (1992) consumers also judge the environment and stimuli  according  to  aesthetics.  This  is  very  much  related  with  the  higher  quality

perception mentioned earlier. Kaplan (1987) states in an article of Bitner (1992) that  the  outdoor  environment  is  assessed  affectively  and  is  stated  and  interpreted  as  an aesthetic element. Other research has shown that people respond positively to nature and prefer natural to manmade elements, whereas the presence of what environmental  nuisances  has  been  found  to  reduce  preference  and  perceptions  of  quality  in  urban settings. In urban settings such things as poles, wires, signs, and dilapidated buildings  and vehicles are classified as nuisances (Bitner 1992).

2.3. The relation with atmospheric music

Atmospherics are an important aspect of advertising and within these atmospherics;  music  has  its  own,  major  but  complicated  role.  Looking  back  at  the  two  primary objectives,  mentioned  in  paragraph  2.1,  that  should  be  balanced  when  creating stimulating environments by Douglas Hoffman and Turley (based on the Mehrabian- Russell   Model),   only   the   first   objective,   develop   environments   that   appeal   to consumer   pleasure   and   arousal   states   while   avoiding   atmospheres   that   create submissiveness,  can  be  taken  care  of  by  music.  Music  in  commercial  television advertising  cannot  construct  environments  that  facilitate  the  operational  ease  and efficiency  of  a  firm.  Music  does  not  have  the  power  to  give  an  indication  of  operational ease. The efficiency of a firm can also not be shown by music. But the five-stage  theory  of  Scherer  can  be  applied  fully  at  music  while  it  is  a  theory considered for atmospherics generally.

2.3.1. Conclusion

In section 2.2. several examples of atmospherics and the effects of these atmospherics  were mentioned. Theories about the occurrence of stereotypes and the importance of  familiarities for the consumer also count for the use of music in commercial television advertising. After this, examples about match and mismatch were dealt with and cater
to positive moods and avoiding negative moods. When selecting background music for your commercial, one should also think about matching principles and stimulating the  consumer  by  positivism.  Research  by  Bitner  (1992)  showed  that  aesthetics  and outdoor environments have a positive effect on people and is proven to be affective when processed in sensory stimuli and marketing. By use of natural sounds or music made  by  natural  instruments  instead  of  electric  sounds  or  music  made  by  electric instruments, it might be possible that people also respond positively because classical  music can be judged more aesthetically.
The  theory  and  examples  in  section  2.1.  and  2.2.  about  atmospherics  indicate  that  there is a good possibility that there are some connections between these atmospherics  and the use of music in commercial television advertising.

3. The structure and effect of music

Chapter  three  formulates  the  theories  concerning  the  three  research  questions  about  commercial television advertising. Chapter three will deal with music in commercial  television advertising specifically and broadly, further investigate theory and practise and make use of the theories of chapter two to investigate correlations to reach the core,  namely  the  role  of  music  in  commercial  television  advertising. The  chapter  contains some theories and examples of music.

3.1. Introduction

Music is one of many stimuli atmospherics and music has been and is used a lot in commercial television advertising. A few examples of commercials where it has been shown  that  music  had  a  major  role  are  Vodafone,  Dutch  insurance  companies  and Heineken.  These  three  examples  gained  a  lot  of  brand  awareness  by  using  popular  music geared to their target group in 2004. Even some songs made it to the pop charts. The song, so also the commercial, received a lot of exposure.   Due to the success of  the hit song, people associated the song very often directly with the particular brand
(survey  ”consumentenbond‘  2004).  Discussing  how,  when,  and  why  music  works  seems to be appropriate to understanding the role of music in commercial television advertising.

3.2. Music structured

Music  structure  consists  of  elements  such  as  sound,  harmony,  melody  and  rhythm according to Alperts & Maltz (2003). Key factors in how these musical elements have an impact on the advertisement and the product are:

1.   The  consumer,  through  different  levels  of  involvement  and  cognitive  or  affective processing.
2.   The consumer‘s subjective perception of the appropriateness of the music as it  relates to the central idea of the ad (”fit‘ or consistency as mentioned earlier in paragraph 2.2.3.).
3.   The organization of musical elements.

Below, figure 3.1. gives a visual view of the theory according to Alperts & Maltz.

Organization of  musical elements



Consumer mood states

Degree of impact of
musical elements on advertisements

”Fit‘; the relationship
between music &
central idea

Figure 3.1. Impact of musical elements on advertisements

If  the  organization  of  musical  elements  is  sufficient,  the  consumer  mood  state  is  positive  and  there  is  a  ”fit‘  between  the  music,  the  central  idea  and  the  mentioned mood  state,  the  impact  of  musical  elements  on  advertisements  will  be  large  and affective.

In addition, music has a host of elements that may be influential beyond the musical  structure. These include the words, artistic interpretation, and specific memories that  may be associated with the selection, type and period of music, and the interaction of  all of these with the product and use situation stressed in the advertisement.

3.3. Music Effects

Musical   elements   such   as   sound,   harmony,   melody   and   rhythm   mentioned   in paragraph 3.2. are not the only part what creates a possible impact. First, music must  be seen as a whole and not as all kinds of elements. Figure 3.1. only shows a part of  the whole picture. Paragraph 3.3. shapes that total picture. The effects which music has on commercial television advertising are shown in figure 3.2.

7. Product  choice
1. Enrich key message
2. Emotional  state

6. Brand attitudes
Music
3. Recall

5. Level of
attention

4. Acceptance/
rejection

Figure 3.2. The effects of music

Music is often used in advertising to enrich the key message and may be the single most stimulation component in a commercial. It is perceived as a potential peripheral  cue used to positively arouse the consumer‘s emotional state. As stated by Alperts & Maltz  (2003):  —Music  not  only  enhances  recall  for  a  product  or  an  advertisement  through an evoked image, but it may evoke moods, feelings, emotions and behaviors“. Bozman et al. (1994) indicates, —Affective cues paired with an advertisement‘s claims  are thought to transfer emotional responses directly to the brand. Emotions become an integral  part  of  the  persuasive  communication  and  directly  influence  the  overall  evaluation of an advertised brand“. —Emotional responses to background cues mediate the  acceptance  or  rejection  of  media  claims.  Specifically,  variations  in  cognitive response  are  expected  due  to  the  moderating  role  of  the  feelings  elicited  by  the emotional  features  in  an  advertisement“  (Bozman  et  al.  1994).  The  association between mood states and affective responses, judgments, and behavior can be seen as  both direct and indirect (Alperts & Maltz, 2003). A direct affective reaction may be viewed  as  a  conditioned  response  when  there  are  direct  linkages  in  associations  in memory  between  mood  states  and  affective  reactions  and  between  mood  states  and behavior  (e.g.  product  choice).  Indirect  associations  between  feelings  states  and affective responses and/or behavior include the influence of information processing or  cognitive activity (e.g. acceptance or rejection).

The  effects  ”enrich  key  message  (1)‘  and  ”emotional  state  (2)‘  are  the  main  effects  which  music  has  on  television  advertising.  Especially  the  influence  on  consumers‘  emotional state is interesting because it causes other sub-effects. Two of these sub- effects are the earlier mentioned that it enhances recall for a product or advertisement  and it creates acceptance or rejection of media claims. But these are not the only sub- effects  caused  by  influence  on  the  emotional  state  of  the  customer.  An  emotional  presentation has an indirect influence on consumer behavior, through the amount of  attention   paid   to   an   advertisement.   A   concave  relationship   is   theorized  where affectively  neutral  advertisements  have  significantly  less  influence  on  consumer  reactions than negative or positive presentations. High levels of attention are thought
to  restrain  the  association  of  emotional  appeals  with  advertised  brands.  Extreme emotional cues simply focus the awareness of potential customers on the informative aspects  of  a  persuasive  communication.  The  obtained  affect  does  not  directly  alter  brand attitudes. Rather greater persuasion may occur with either negative or positive presentations due to the heightening of attention (Bozman et al, 1994).

The likelihood that a host of behaviors may be performed appears to be enhanced by positive  moods.  For  negative  moods,  there  have  been  mixed  results,  and  several  studies have shown that negative affect serves as a motivator to mood improvement  through  the  performance  of  positive,  prosaic  acts  (Gardner,  1985  in  an  article  of  Alperts  &  Maltz,  2003).  This  finding  agrees  with  the  notion  that  where  possible,  people feeling badly will try to feel better and also agrees with section 2.2.3 were it is  stated  that  retail  products  are  evaluated  more  positively  in  an  environment  eliciting pleasant  compared  to  unpleasant  emotional  reactions  and  therefore  indicates  how important music is to create a positive mood. It can be concluded that in a negative emotional  advertisement  there  is  a  higher  level  of  activity  involvement  than  with positive  advertisements,  where  people  are  in  a  good  mood,  have  positive  thoughts,  and want to stay that way with minimum elaboration (Alperts & Maltz, 2003).

Positively  and  negatively  valanced  advertisements  still  deviate  significantly  from neutral presentations; however, the direction of effects is quite different. Here another  sub-effect sees daylight: the influence on brand attitudes. A negative emotive appeal  would  transfer  directly  to  the  object  of  an  advertisement  while  a  positive  appeal  would tend to enhance consumer preference for the advertised brand. Also, negative music  has  a  less  favourable  influence

attitudes  than  neutral  music  and neutral  music  has  a  less  favourable  influence  on  brand  attitudes  than  positively valenced music (Bozman et al, 1994).

Gorn  (1982)  suggested,  in  an  article  of  Alperts  &  Maltz  (2003),  that  peripheral  influences  such  as  background  music  used  in  commercials  may  become  associated with  the  advertised  product  (in  memory,  even  if  not  consciously)  and  influence product choice through classical conditioning1. Product choice is also behavior, which is  affected  by  the  influence  on  emotional  state  by  music.  In  1982,  Gerald  Gorn
published an experiment showing that subjects were more likely to select a specific color of pen if that pen had been paired with pleasant rather than unpleasant music. Since that time mere exposure did not lead to liking, which apparently depended on whether the target product, a pen, was presented with liked versus disliked music. The commercial‘s  impact  appeared  to  be  more  influential  in  its  appeal  when  presented with  musical  background  as  opposed  to  product  information.  He  concluded  that  through  classical  conditioning,  the  product  becomes  associated  with  the  positive feelings of liked music.

All  the  effects  and  sub-effects  of  music  are  shown  in  figure  3.2.  In  this  figure  the relationship has not been drawn. Figure 3.3. does show the total picture of the effects  and sub-effects of music and its relations.

Music


Enrich key message
Recall

Acceptance/
rejection

Emotional
state
Level attention

Brand attitudes

Product choice

Figure 3.3. The effect of music adjusted

1  Classical conditioning: under this specification, an individual could develop brand preferences based on emotive responses to an ad without any conscious evaluation of the persuasive message. Several studies, which incorporate
music backgrounds, have been successful in demonstrating the direct influence of this contextual feature on brand
attitudes (Bozman et al. 1994)

3.4. Elements of music

Now  that  it  is  clear  what  the  effects  of  music  are  during  a  commercial  television advertisement,   elements   of   music   on   their   own   also   show   some   interesting relationships  and  facts  concerning  their  influence  during  a  commercial  television advertisement.

Research  done  by  Hevner  (1935),  stated  in  an  article  of  Alperts  &  Maltz  (2003),  reported associations between musical elements, such as fast tempo, loud dynamics,  lively and varied rhythm, and high register with perceptions of the music as happy,  merry, graceful, and playful. Musical elements such as slower tempo, quiet dynamics,  unvaried rhythm, and low register were reported to be sad, dreamy, and sentimental. She noted that although mode is never the sole factor that determines the way music is  perceived,  it  is  the  most  stable,  generally  understood,  and  influential  of  any  of  the elements  in  expressing  the  affective  mood  of  music.  This  lies  in  line  with  theory stated in chapter two about emotional state and consistency but also in line with the emotional state of music as a whole stated in paragraph 3.3. The psychological view of these associations will be mentioned later in this chapter in detail pursuant to an article of Kellaris and Rice (1993).

3.5. Music and consistency

According  to  Alperts  &  Maltz  (2003)  equally  liked  but  unfamiliar  music  produced emotional  responses  predictable  from  analysis  of  its  structural  profile  of  musical  elements.  These  mood  states  were  associated  with  influence  on  purchase  intention towards greeting cards viewed with the varying background music. They speculated that happy music may ”help‘ happy cards when purchased for joyous occasions; sad music may help sad cards more than happy ones for sad situations such as funerals. As   noted   in   a   review   by   Bower   (1991),   —people   who   are   temporarily   (or  characteristically) happy or unhappy tend to select interpersonal activities as well as  social situations which will maintain their mood“. He also noted that moods influence the  processing  of  affectively  congruent  information  as  well  impact-biased  recall.  In the  context  of  the  present  study,  this  implies  that  persons  feeling  good  (bad)  will  prefer  choosing  a  greeting  card  for  a  happy  (sad)  occasion.  Emotions  become  an integral part of the situation and influence the overall product evaluation. A negative feeling,  as  well  as  a  positive  feeling,  could  transfer  directly  to  the  promoted  brand  when emotive advertisements are employed. The example of the cards indicates this  perfectly though it is not an example specified on commercial television advertising.

This  behavior  would  also  be  consistent  with  findings  mentioned  in  chapter  two regarding the need for consistency between an advertisement‘s musical meaning and the intended advertising message. Consumer ratings of the appropriateness of music played in an advertisement relate positively to evaluations of product characteristics. An atmosphere that fits, relative to an unusual atmosphere, creates a positive response through assimilation or accommodation (Babin, Chebat & Michon, 2003).

An  example  that  illustrates  that  consumer  ratings  of  the  appropriateness  of  music played in an advertisement relate positively to evaluations of product characteristics  can  be  given  by  research  done  by  Kellaris  &  Rice  (1993).  They  did  research concerning musical tempo. Although strong tempo effects were reported, no effects of  tempo on judgments of positive affective properties, sedativeness, or behavioral intent  were  found.  The  only  significant  tempo  effect,  which  has  been  found,  was  reduced negative responses at the faster tempo. The notion of harmonic dissonance may help explain this finding. Most musical compositions contain consonance and dissonance in some proportion. The unpleasant clash of dissonant harmonies is sustained longer  at  slower  tempos  and  resolved  to  consonance  more  quickly  at  faster  tempos.  The negative impact of dissonance is a positive function of exposure duration and thus a negative function of speed (Kellaris & Rice, 1993).

Babin,  Chebat  &  Michon  (2003)  (according  to  MacInnis  and  Park,  1991)  provided additional support for the positive effect of musical and non-musical consistency of  message and resulting impact on advertising effectiveness. The conclusion, which can be  drawn,  is  as  followed:  when  evoked  mood  is  congruent  with  the  mood  of  the purchase occasion, the role of music is significantly larger. This will eventually lead to higher buying intention than when the buyer and occasion moods are inconsistent.

3.6. The psychological view of music

Until  now,  the  subject  music  in  commercial  television  advertising  has  only  been judged  by  economic,  marketing  and  consumer  research  standpoints.  But  there  is  a very important other side of this subject, namely the psychological view. Kellaris and Rice  (1993)  stated  in  their  research:  —Music  may  operate  through

mood, classical  conditioning, attitudinal transfer, attention, distraction, or some other mechanism. But  because these rival explanations tend to make similar predictions concerning music‘s  impact, it would seem more practically important for research to focus on discovering which  stimulus  properties  of music  produce or encourage  the thoughts  and  feelings  responsible for desirable outcomes“.

The  study  of  Kellaris  &  Rice  (1993)  explored  the  impact  of  gender  and  two psychophysical  stimulus  properties  of  instrumental  music,  tempo  and  loudness,  on hedonic responses, including judgments of music‘s affective character and behavioral  intentions towards the music. Perhaps the most striking finding to emerge from their  study is the moderating influence of gender on responses to music‘s loudness. As in earlier  univariate  studies,  musical  loudness  produced  main  effects;  however,  in  the present  study,  the  impact  of  loudness  differed  by  sex  of  listener.  Females  reacted adversely to louder music, whereas males did not (Kellaris & Rice, 1993).

This  finding  can  be  explained  alternatively  in  terms  of  social-psychological  and psychobiological processes. —In social-psychological terms, the gender difference may stem  from  socially  ascribed  sex  roles.  People  tend  to  respond  more  positively  to objects that are congruent with their self-concept (Kellaris & Rice, 1993). Sex roles  may contribute to self-concept. It is possible that the louder music was perceived as  less congruent with traditional notions of feminity, and thus judged less positively by females.  This  would  also  explain  the  tenuous  positive  effect  of  loudness  on  males‘  responses to the music. Louder music might be more role congruent, but the stimulus  object  itself  (classical  music)  may  be  less  role  congruent  for  male  college  students  than  for  females  in  our  sample“  (Kellaris  &  Rice,  1993).  Since  preferences  for  musical genres are strongly influenced by individual differences varying the genre of  background  music  is  more  likely  to  produce  differential  effects  across  customer  groups.  For  instance  a  survey  done  by  Yalch  and  Spangenberg  (2000)  showed  that  consumers  under  25  years  old  were  more  influenced  by  easy-listening  music  and consumers of 25 years old and older were more influenced by Top-Forty music.

Audio logical research has found hearing to be generally more sensitive in the higher- frequency  range  among  females  of  college  age  than  males.  This  portion  of  the frequency range is essential for auditory processing of musical sound. Assuming that  the loud manipulation to be perceived as more irritating among females. Differences  in brain physiology may also contribute to the observed gender difference. Nonverbal  stimuli such as instrumental music tend to be processed in the right hemisphere of the brain. Females may be less prone to hemispheric dominance for certain tasks (Kimura (1985) in an article of Kellaris & Rice, 1993).

4. Conclusion

In this chapter conclusions will be drawn from the reviewed literature. The research questions will be answered in order to come to the solution for the problem statement. Also  the  validity  and  generality  of  the  conclusions  gets  determined.  After  the conclusions  some  recommendations  for  further  research  will  be  done  for  both managerial and academic relevance.

4.1. What is the role of music in commercial television advertising

The conclusion of this thesis is the answer to the problem statement. To give a proper  and reliable answer to this problem statement first the four research questions must be answered.

What is the position of the theories about music in commercial television advertising compared with theories of atmospherics in general?
In chapter two it is shown that a lot of theories and examples about atmospherics in general  can   be  applied   at  the   specific   atmospheric  music.   Theories   about  the occurrence  of  stereotypes  and  the  importance  of  familiarities  for  the  consumer  also count  for  the  use  of music  in  commercial  television  advertising.  Quality  perception has also a meaning in music. Music can make a difference if it is qualified as quality and sufficient. Also concerning the occurrence of consistency, match and mismatch were  dealt  with  and  cater  to  positive  moods  and  avoiding  negative  moods.  When selecting  background  music  for  your  commercial,  one  should  also  think  about  matching principles and stimulating the consumer by positivism. Research by Bitner  (1992)  showed  that  aesthetics  and  outdoor  environments  have  a  positive  effect  on people and is proven to be affective when processed in sensory stimuli and marketing. All this gives a good indication that within the general theories of atmospherics; a lot  can  be  applied  at  music.  Also  the  theory  of  Scherer  and  a  part  of  the  Mehrabian- Russell  model,  which  are  designed  for  atmospherics  in  general,  can  be  applied  at  music. It can be concluded that music has an important position within atmospherics.

How does music work in commercial television advertising?

This research question can best be answered by looking back at figure 3.3. in chapter  three. Here the effects of music are demonstrated. Music has two main effects namely it  enriches  the  key  message  of  the  advertisement  and  it  has

an  influence  on  the emotional state of the consumer. Music can for example enrich the key message by consistency  (for  instance  the  idea  of  a  television  commercial  for  ”Bar  le  Duc‘  combined with sounds from nature like waterfalls). The way music has an influence on the emotional state of the consumer is a bit more complicated. People in a good mood  want  to  stay  in  a  good  mood  and  people  in  a  bad  mood  want  to  force themselves  to  get  into  a  good  mood.  Positive  music  can  influence  people  in  a  bad mood  and  keep  people  in  a  positive  mood.   The  effect music  has on  the  emotional  state has several sub-effects. These sub-effects are also shown in figure 3.3. namely:  recall, acceptance/rejection, level of attention, brand attitudes and product choice.

When does music work in commercial television advertising?

Music works best when it is linked with positive moods and positive incentives. This  is very clear stated by Bozman et al (1993). He claims that negative music has a less  favourable influence on brand attitude than neutral music and neutral music has a less  favourable influence on brand attitudes than positively valenced music. Bozman only applies this on brand attitude, which is one of the sub-effects of music. But this claim of Bozman can be seen as a claim for music in general. Alperts & Maltz (2003) also claim  this;  they  say  that  the  likelihood  that  a  host  of  behaviors  may  be  performed appears to be enhanced by positive moods. Psycho-sociologically music works better  for  men  when  it  is  played  loud  and  better  for  women  when  it  is  played  less  loud. Finally, music also works when there is a ”fit‘ between the music and the product or  commercial television advertisement.

Why does music work in commercial television advertising?

The  appropriateness  of  background  music  helps  shape  the  overall  atmosphere  in commercial  television  advertising.  In  other  words,  music  is  often  a  vital  aspect  of  creating an overall positive atmosphere. By shaping the overall atmosphere music has  a  significant  influence.  Another  reason  is  that  the  customer  is  constantly  in  a particular emotional state. When this state gets influenced and affected, people notice it. Music is such an element, which can influence and affect human natures emotional  state. That is why music works in commercial television advertising.

What is the role of music in commercial television advertising? Summarizing all the answers of the four research questions gives us a good indication about the role of music in commercial television advertising. Comparing theories and examples of atmospherics in general with music shows that music is very important  and has a large role within atmospherics in general
Music  in  commercial  television  advertising  influences  the  emotional  state  of  the customer. This causes also influences on product choice and brand attitude. Further  also  recall,  acceptance/rejection  of  the  advertisement  and  level  of  attention  are influenced by music.

Another   important   fact   is   that   music   also   enriches   the   key   message   of   the advertisement.
Consistency  is  also  very  important  for  music  to  make  its  role  in  a  commercial  television  advertisement  more  significant.  Another  instrument  to  strengthen  the advertisement is use of positive music to keep or get the customer in a positive mood. Because people are constantly aware of change in emotional state, people are more attended to commercial when the right music is played.
Finally,   music   helps   shape   the   overall   atmosphere   in   commercial   television advertising  and  therefore  has  an  important  and  inevitable  role  within  commercial  television advertising.

4.2. Discussion

The theory of Gorn (1982) has not been taken for granted by all researchers. Some of  them are really convinced that his theory is not valid. The reason why this theory has  been used is that Gorn‘s study has become quite influential. The study has been cited
in  at  least  34  refereed  journal  articles.  Perhaps  more  importantly,  several  consumer  behavior textbooks now cite the experiment as proof that consumer preferences can be classically conditioned.
The findings of music in paragraph 3.6. which are psycho-sociologically findings are only based at the research and article of Kellaris & Rice (1993)

4.3. Recommendations

This  thesis  is  only  literature  based  and  therefore  the  main  recommendation  is  to further investigate this topic by fieldwork.

4.3.1. Managerial

Marketing  departments  of  successful  companies  should  be  more  aware  of  the importance  of  music.  Nowadays  a  lot  of  commercials  do  not  contain  consistency between the product/advertisement and music played. As this thesis indicates it is of  great  importance  to  create  such  a  match.  Promotion  and  product  can  be  both  very much affected by music. When considering that music enriches the key message of a commercial  television  advertisement,  stereotypes  should  also  be  taken  care  of  by companies.

4.3.2. Academic

The research done by Gorn (1982) is not supported by all investigators who dealt with this topic. The theory about classical conditioning therefore should be reconsidered. Only  literature-based  research  is  not  enough.  To  better  see  the  role  of  music  in commercial   television   advertising   some   primary   data   should   be   used   through fieldwork.

Reference List

ñ    Bitner,   1992,   —Servicescapes:   The   impact   of   physical   surroundings   on customers and employees,“ Journal of Marketing, 57-72
ñ    Babin,  Chebat  and  Michon,  2003,  —Perceived  appropriateness  and  its  effect  on quality, affect and behavior,“ Journal of Business Research, 287-298

ñ    Cohen  J,  Basu  K,  1987,  —Alternative  models  of  categorization:  toward  a contingent processing framework,“ Journal of Consumer Research, 455-472
ñ    Donovan and Rossiter, 1994, —Store Atmosphere and Purchasing behavior,“ Journal of Retailing, 283

ñ    Yalch and Spangenberg, 2000, —The effects of music in a retail setting on real and perceived shopping times,“ Journal of Business Research, 139-147
ñ    Fiske S, 1982, —Schema-triggered affect: applications to social perception,“ Affect and cognition, 55-78

ñ    Bozman,  Carl  S;  Mueling,  Darrel;  Pettit-O  Malley,  Kathy  L,  2004,  —The directional influence of music backgrounds in television advertising“, 14
ñ    K Douglas Hoffman, 2002, —Atmospherics, service encounters and consumer decision  making:  An  integrative  perspective,“  Journal  of  Marketing  Theory and Practice, 33-47
ñ    Alpert,  Mark  I,  lpert,  Judy  I,  Maltz,  Elliot  N,  2005,  —Purchase  occasion influence on the role of music in advertising,“ Journal of Business Research,  369-376

ñ    Kellaris,  Rice,  1993,  —The  Influence  of  Tempo,  Loudness  and  Gender  of  Listener on Responses to Music“, Psychology & Marketing, 10, 1.

Essay: « Ink-stained tears on game day »

“Ink-stained Tears on Game Day”

There it sat in its position of honor, and, breathing a sigh of admiration, Eric Wilson once again sat down on his leather recliner to watch ESPN while intermittently eying his most prized possession.  The players on the TV screen often faded into unimportance when Eric compared the intangible colored figures dancing on the screen with his invaluable team-signed baseball.  On innumerable occasions, Mr. Wilson had picked up his ball to study it, and the image of the scrawled names on the ball was permanently etched in his brain’s photographic memory.  He knew without a doubt that he could list every player on that ball and trace, in his mind, the perfect outline of each legend’s characteristic signature.  Only the prospect (and fear) that frequent handling and examination would smudge away the thousands-dollar ink marks kept him from reaching for the baseball every other minute.
Little Ryan was quite accustomed to the site of his father’s ritual admiration of the baseball.  He often watched in bewilderment as his father would reach his arm up towards the ball, lower it hesitantly, and then sigh.  Nodding his head to himself, six-year-old Ryan wondered why that ball was so special, and why his father refused to play catch with it, or even touch it for that matter.  The only explanation that the boy could find for his father’s reluctance to touch the ball was the writing all over it.  “The baseball must have been Dad’s favorite as a kid, but someone went and wrote all over it and messed it up,” he thought, “and since the ball is ruined, it makes Dad sad to look at it and that’s why he sighs.  Plus, the ball is so dirty-looking with all the writing that he probably doesn’t want to touch it.  That’s probably why he doesn’t want me to touch it either, so that I don’t get sick, but I’m a big boy and I’ll clean his ball for him so he can play with it again and he’ll be so happy with me.”  It was settled then, and when his father left the room, Ryan snuck up to the shelf and hoisted himself up to grab the ball.
A few hours later, Mr. Wilson’s favorite team was playing a big game, and as he took his usual position on the plush recliner and proceeded to glance to the signed ball, he was flabbergasted to see that it was missing.  He searched the shelf and then frantically crawled on the floor, flinging his arms haphazardly under the sofa, lest the ball had rolled out of place.  Just then, his son entered the room.  “Ryan, have you seen my baseball–the one that always sits right there on the shelf?”
“Yes sir, I have it right here and I’ve made a great surprise for you with it.”  Startled by the comment, Eric Wilson’s attention was instantly diverted from the lint under the sofa to his son.  Between the chubby, little, six-year-old hands was his ball, stripped of all evidence of the glorious names, save for a few stray smudgy streaks.  Stunned, Mr. Wilson sat back on the floor in silence, his head buried in his arms.  “Look, now it’s not all dirty anymore.  We can finally play together and we won’t get sick from the germs!” Ryan stated in childlike pride and innocence.  When his father looked up with glassy eyes, however, his confidence faltered.
“Ryan! What have you done?!   How could you?  I always told you not to touch it!”
“I didn’t get sick, though,” started Ryan hesitantly, “so it’s okay isn’t it.”
Eric Wilson didn’t say a word.  He just picked himself up off the floor and sat himself on the recliner in a stupor.  The players on the screen were only colorful, moving pictures and the ball that gave them life and importance was now missing from its sacred place on the shelf, leaving an empty space that only magnified the loss.  And for the rest of the day he sat there, concentrating on the empty patch of carpet that lay between the TV and the shelf, mourning for a loss he couldn’t express, unable to find comfort in vengeance, and met only by confusion from the most innocent of criminals.