Ep. 18: Is Background Music Influencing My Purchasing (or my Thanksgiving Guests)?! with Songtradr’s Jody McKinley

November 26, 2019

November 26, 2019

Background music can influence us to eat faster, eat slower, purchase more items, or purchase higher end items. Learn about some of the characteristics of music that are considered in selecting music for marketing purposes – and utilize your knowledge at your next dinner party!

Guest

Joining us today from the LA area is Jody McKinley, Executive Vice President of Global Revenue & Music at Songtradr.  Songtradr is the largest music licensing platform in the world, with music used by Netflix, Disney, Fox, Ford and more. Songtradr’s global marketplace for music licensing connects music artists to film, TV, brands and other media.  The Songtradr platform also empowers music makers with tools and services to manage and monetize their music, including distribution to all major streaming platforms including Spotify, Amazon and Apple Music. Songtradr is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA with offices in NYC, London, Paris and Singapore. Songtradr has been featured in publications including Forbes, Los Angeles Times and MarketWatch. Jody is the head of revenue and music teams for Songtradr. In addition to his extensive background in the music & media world, he has served as an advisor for a number of music tech startups and is an active volunteer and civic leader.

Improv

Jody offers a PSA to build awareness around the topic of music licensing.  Less than 10% of small businesses in the US pay for music appropriately. Music used in a commercial environment requires music licensing, which is a lifeline providing income for artists (many of whom are blue collar working musicians) who are writing songs and deserve a viable income to support their craft.

Connect

Coda

Jody tells about the story of a moment when Andra Day and her hit, Rise Up, moved an audience (including Jody) to tears.

Listener Improv

Thank you, Listeners, for joining us today. This week in the US, we celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday — it’s a day to reflect on and give thanks for the blessings in our lives. For a lot of Americans, this holiday involves lots of family, possibly friends, and FOOD. I’m thinking that if background music can affect our behavior so much in stores and restaurants, it probably can also really affect our Thanksgiving gatherings.  If you’re hosting Thanksgiving this year, it would be really interesting to experiment with playing slower-tempo background dinner music that is calming, and see if people tend to linger a little more and draw out the pleasure of the holiday. And… if the group you are hosting is not particularly enjoyable, you could experiment with fast music and uncomfortable seating, and see if that moves people through faster!  If you try any experiments, let me know the results!
 
Today’s Listener Improv comes from Rich, who says: “With four teenagers in our house, we’ve realized that music can be a great way to regulate the mood in the house. When one or more of our teenagers get crabby, I’ll say, ‘It’s time for some White Snake!’ That lightens the mood — it’s hard to be crabby with the music playing!” Thank you, Rich — great idea, and I’ll take it a step further and say this is a great strategy when PARENTS get crabby, too! I find that if I — or my husband — are feeling a little grouchy, the right kind of music can smooth the atmosphere a bit and lighten things up!  Send me YOUR Improv — a Try-This-At-Home, experiment, or hack — a practical, concrete way YOU enhance life with music. I would love to hear from you!  Leave a comment below, comment on social media (I’m on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn), or in an email (mindy@mpetersonmusic.com).
 

Schmitt Music Gift Card Drawing

The Thanksgiving holiday kicks off a time of year that is a natural time to turn our attention to gift ideas for our loved ones (or ourselves, if someone is asking us for gift ideas). There is a chance this week for a listener to win a gift card from Schmitt Music. Schmitt is a music store headquartered here in the Twin Cities, with stores in seven states, that has been family owned since it started in the late 1800s, which is quite remarkable! Also remarkable are the investments that Schmitt makes in their stores’ local communities. There was a marching band championship, Youth In Music, last month at the US Bank Stadium here in Minneapolis where the Vikings play. There were about 10 states represented at this event (shout-out to my city’s high school, Eden Prairie, who came in 2nd in the championship — Go Eagles!). But I just found out that Schmitt Music is one of the sponsors of this event — Thank you to Schmitt for their sponsorship of this event — it’s just one of many ways they give back to the community and enhance lives with music. Another way they’ve done this is by offering a $10 gift card to a listener this week! To be entered into the gift card drawing, share Enhance Life with Music podcast on Facebook or Instagram OR write a review in whatever podcast app you use. Email a screenshot of your share or review to mindy@mpetersonmusic.com by the end of the day (11:59 pm) this Sunday, December 1, 2019, to be entered in the drawing. A Schmitt gift card makes a great stocking stuffer or teacher gift.
 

Enhance Life with Music Gift Guide

If you are interested in other musical gift ideas, check out the Enhance Life with Music Gift Guide with ideas that will inspire and create memories with music. I don’t receive any compensation or commission for these items – they’re just some fun things that caught my eye. One of MY favorites is an ukulele — these ARE carried by Schmitt, in fact, they have an entire wall of them. I’m including a picture because some of them are so cute that I kind of want one just to hang on my wall because I know I will smile every time I look at it. They start at $40 — and you can learn more about the wonders of the ukulele by listening to Ep. 5 (Why is the Ukulele So Popular?).
 
If you are thinking about buying an instrument in time for Christmas, heads-up that Schmitt does have its biggest instrument sale of the year coming up on December 14 (Schmitt Music Selection Event Flyer).
 
Thank you so much for listening today, for sharing and reviewing the show, and for sharing your tips on how you enhance life with music. Until next week, may your life be enhanced with music.

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