Why do we listen to music?

What are the benefits of music to us? What do we get out of music? These questions are important to answer if we are serious about audience development or about sharing classical music with wider audiences.

As I contemplate the marketing and “sales” of classical music I find myself wondering about some of the basics. When a business has developed a product, an important preliminary step in taking it to market is identifying the benefits the product offers their potential customers. However, identifying benefits isn’t really the first step. The first step is knowing and understanding what the potential customers’ problems or pain points are. It is only then that a products benefits can be meaningfully articulated. This is because people buy benefits, not products, and they do so in response to what they lack.

Just think about it for a moment. Investors buy income, growth, or principal protection (stocks/bonds/CDs). Diners buy convenience and feelings. Construction workers buy the ability to erect buildings (tools). Students buy knowledge. Dog owners buy control over their pets (leashes). And on and on…

But what are music listeners after? What do they lack that is provided by the music they buy?

It is not enough to say that music simply offers beauty (or some other aesthetic benefit) without first determining that people lack beauty. Nor is it enough to say people simply like it, that it gives them pleasure. Obviously, lots of things solve those problems - including everything from sunsets to sex. In order for this to be meaningful and more specific to music, we must first define the void that we expect music to fill in order to determine if music can fill it at all, and then how to properly and effectively convey how and that it does so.

So why do we need/want music? What do we get out of music?

Let me propose one possibility and then you can share yours in the comments section below.

We crave cultural touchstones that connect us to other people and define where we stand in relation to society. These connections can range in size and direction but they are necessary to human happiness as we are social beings. Music as a cultural indicator helps connect us to our friends. Music as an art form that exists as part of an historical trajectory connects us to both past and future. As both, music helps us identify our place in the arc of history and contemporary society. Music does this in at least a couple of ways.

First, the source of our music is important. It is not a coincidence that musical tastes seem to cluster geographically. The result can be a form of musical nationalism (of course it need not be, and often is not, that broad). As an anecdotal example of this, I would cite a former professor of mine. He was born and raised in Upper Austria, near where Anton Bruckner lived and worked. This professor had a particular affinity for Bruckner and his music (this is why I know his sacred motets so well). It helped identify him as Upper Austrian. By contrast, those who are musical border-crossers seem more likely to consider themselves citizens of the world, as well as being more likely to be considered more cosmopolitan by their peers.

Second, music is something that we share in common with others. One of the most profound features of music as an art form is its inherently communal nature. In almost all cases we rely on others to create music and as a result it helps build community. We also tend to listen to music collectively. While recording technology has changed this to a certain extent, concert going is still a communal activity. And so, music helps define who our friends are - those with whom we have a connection and those with whom we do not.

A lot of this connection benefit can be provide by other products. However I selected this example, because I think music is uniquely suited to address the issue. In other words, music has the benefits that fit a need. The pain point is a lack of connection. And music solves it in a particularly powerful way. In a subsequent post, I will explore music’s “value proposition,” i.e. how its benefits uniquely address this problem of connection.

In the meantime, please share your own answers to the question of Why we need/want music in the comments section below.

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