House Music: Brandscape

To define a musical genre as a brand is difficult for many reasons. In this case I will be talking about a genre that is slowly gaining popularity, especially here at Penn State. Not only are there multiple artists that comprise the genre, but there is not a central marketing strategy behind this type of music. House music or electronica/techno has become casual listening for many students at Penn State. In short, I believe this to be the music of my generation and I hope to explore exactly why it appeals to my age group. In this instance I hope to use the music itself as the brand elements. In essence this music is what people react to. The relationship that people form with this “brand” is driven by the music and the memories associated with the music. If we accept this definition we can understand better why this genre has gained so much ground in recent years.

House music is generally played in a party atmosphere where there are lots of people and alcoholic beverages. This new dance music allows people to let loose and experience a pleasure that they can associate with this music. According to Ralph Oliva strong brands are found in the primitive brain where emotions and pleasure are registered. The design of house music is created specifically to interact with this part of the brain. By creating pleasurable experiences house music creates an unconscious effect in the consumers mind. The consumer now associates positive memories to the sound which in turn gives the consumer an incentive to continue listening to the genre.

If I were to create a brand footprint for house music I would say that the core values of the brand are excitement and flirtatious risk. House music is a genre that is risky at first to listen to because you may truly not enjoy it. Yet after some time of flirting with the music ones feel as though he becomes better acquainted with the sound and learns to appreciate it. Personally I hated house music when I first came to college but now I can say it is my favorite genre. I have been able to associate positive memories with the sound and it has created a strong relationship in that respect. If house music was a person I feel as though they could be like your older cousin that is a hit at every party he goes to. He is socially accepted and everyone always has fun when they are with him. Everyone may not know him initially, but after a while they see how cool he really is.

The consumer of house music is probably not entirely sure why he or she likes house music. I cannot specifically remember when I started to religiously listen to house but I do know that it developed after I associated positive memories with the sound. In the handout that was given to us by Ralph Oliva I noticed a template for a brand to create strong value positioning. I have filled out this template for house music. For college students that want pleasure, our brand’s music beats the competition because it provides an exciting party atmosphere unlike hip-hop. We do this by providing a fast, fun beat that anyone can dance to, as demonstrated by the latest hit songs. This ties in to our core brand vision by associating this music with positive memories.