The Sound Of Sadness

What does sadness sound like? Could limiting our sad music intake save us from depression?

This episode was a re-boot from an article with the same name that I wrote back in 2021.

Thanks to Artlist’s library of killer musicians for Beach Day by Max Hixon (my summertime example) and Catnip Addict by Bunker Buster (my lowkey summertime example). I also snuck my own tracks in there. Anthem as my happy music example and Heartbreak as my devastatingly depressing example. Oh and those chords progressing from sad to happy, that was me too.

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Let’s make this world of sound more intriguing, more unique, and more on brand.

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Episode Transcript

(00:05):
Welcome to the Sound In Marketing podcast.
I'm your host, Jeanna Isham, ownerand founder of Dreamr Productions
and Sound in Marketing Learning.
I create, consult and educate individualsand brands
on the power of sound in marketing.
The first episode of the Sound
In Marketing Podcast aired in mid 2019.

(00:28):
Now over 100 episodes strong,
I've realized that there'sstill more to say.
I've allowed for time to head scratchby producing shorter episodes this season.
Hopefully this helps to really give roomfor thought.
Inspirations of your own.
This season will be a culminationof thoughts and theories and musings
that I formed over my years of experiencein sonic branding and sound marketing.

(00:51):
If the content in these episodesinspire actionable ideas
for your company,don't hesitate to give me a call.
This is what I do. This is what I know.
I make sound on purpose.
All contact info will be providedin the show notes.
Now on to the show.
This episode we'll be talking aboutsound and sadness.

(01:14):
When you think of the word sadness.
What images come to mind?
What emotions? Does sadness mean
Devastation.
Heartbreak. Loneliness.Misery. Depression.
Longing? With all of thesedifferent definitions for sadness,
How can we possibly defineand confine them within one
interpretation of a musical playlist?

(01:40):
A UX designer friend of minewrote a very thought provoking article
discussing a Spotify featureshe was developing.
It identified musical preferencesby the user selecting a mood,
such as a bright mood, and then navigatingto a drop down defining said
Bright mood further. Happy
Euphoric.
Relaxed.Sentimental. Motivated. Spiritual.

(02:02):
Optimistic. By defining the moodbeyond the initial suggestion.
The app could then better learnthat specific user's musical preferences.
My mind took this a step further.
What if we were able to programan algorithm of sorts
that detected a potential use oftoo much sadness in our musical choices?

(02:24):
Don't get me wrong,I know that this may border on privacy
and rights and all of that,but think about the idea for a minute.
Have you ever enjoyed sitting in sadness?
Have you ever fed that feeling and sunkdeeper and deeper into it?
If you have.
How hard was it for youto dig yourself back out?

(02:44):
I would wagerit took you longer to get out
than it took you to get in.
Suicide and depression is a real thing.
It's a dark and disturbing place.
And when you feel your lowest, sitting inyour sadness almost feels good.
Musical choices during these low times
play a critical partbetween recovery and devastation.

(03:09):
Believeit or not, sound can actually heal.
I've written about soundand healing in the past.
Sound can heal at a cellular level.
It can also be used as a therapy,
which in itself can helpmore physical wounds to heal
by doing so.
If you are mentally in the right place,your body can follow suit.

(03:30):
So back to my question.
What if AI help catch a slip towards
depressive or suicidal sadness levels
and course correct by slowly feeding themhappier and more uplifting music?
In my scenario,appropriate musical choices could elevate
you from depression. (sad music playing)

(03:54):
To reassurance. (hopeful music playing)
To feeling uplifted. (uplifting music playing)
To optimism. (optimistic music playing)

(04:20):
And eventually to feeling happy again. (happy music playing)
Think of it like an IV drip of music.
By working backwardsthrough that user's musical preferences.
They could potentially give themselvesa dopamine boost by lifting

(04:43):
them back up through song. (dance music playing)
In real
life, no one alternates moodsdirectly from sad to happy.
So the music we listen to shouldn'tdo that either.
It wouldn't feel naturaland in so saying wouldn't be effective.

(05:06):
Guaranteed that user will reach overand change the playlist
if they feel they are not getting enoughwhat they want.
A limited definitionmeans a lost opportunity.
Suicide and depressionaside, limiting a mood choice to one word
doesn't really give you access to finetuning a musical experience.

(05:26):
My definition of sadness is differentfrom yours.
Heck, my definition of sadness todaydiffers from what I think of in five days
or five weeks,or even five minutes from now.
It's all perspective and context,
two thingsthat only the individual user can provide.

(05:47):
Our journeythrough emotions is unpredictable.
We are constantly livingand thinking and changing.
Our mood evolves as we go.
Here'swhere I throw marketing into the mix.
If we could find a wayto give more choices to a user's
mood journey, how much more value canwe bring to their advertising experiences?

(06:11):
Ads are going to happen.
It's just a fact.
If we have to experience them
anyways, wouldn'twe prefer them to make sense to our world?
And dare I say, even be enjoyable
with the ability to fine tunea mood music experience?
Advertisers and marketers
could better define their parametersof who they market to.

(06:32):
For example, it's summertime and my moodis tending towards summertime music.
To me, that would be the Beach Boys,The monkeys, Santana,
Nelly Furtado,Pharrell, Justin Timberlake, etc..
An advertiser might see thistrend and target swimwear or sunscreen
or skateboards.

(06:52):
On the other hand, my neighbor is inthe summertime mood too, but he plays
Jimi Hendrix,
The Doors, Janis Joplin and the Ramones.
Those ads would be totally inappropriateand or irrelevant
to him.

(07:12):
By targeting
advertisementsbased on subsets of musical moods.
The brand has a better opportunityfor a higher ROI.
I'm excited to see how we can better usethis opportunity of streaming
radio playlists with proper cultivationof Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio,
and all the other largeconglomerates streaming radio stations.

(07:34):
There's potential to both save lives.
And more accurately market to an audience.
Sell me this pen.
A really weird combination,I know, but this just shows
that the sky is the limitwhen we make sound on purpose.

(07:56):
Thanks to art lists, Max Hixsonfor Beach Day, my summertime example,
and Bunker Buster for Catnip Addict,my low key summertime example.
I also snuck
my own tracks in there, anthem as myhappy music example,
and heartbreakas my devastatingly depressing example.
Oh, and those chordsprogressing from sad to happy.

(08:16):
That was me too.
For those interested,I would love to chat with you further
about your sound presenceand sonic strategy.
Send me a messageat DreamrProductions.com,
or you can come find meon LinkedIn or Twitter.
All links will be provided in the shownotes.
Let's make this world of sound
more intriguing,more unique, and more and more on brand.