Introduction

Abstract

In the introductory chapter, the editors for The Oxford Handbook of Music and Advertising provide the foundation for the three main sections of the volume, in accordance with three stages of communicating the advertising message established by Wharton (2015): “Production,” “Text,” and “Reception.” The discussion of “Production” considers the contexts for the creation of audiovisual advertising, first as studied in the scholarly literature, and then according to practices and producers. Also under examination is the cultural work music performs for advertising, with special emphasis on branding. The section on “Text” focuses on the various forms and functions of music in advertising media. Text analysis in multimedia formats include discussions of how music combines with visual images and speech to convey an emotion, meaning, or ethos to an ad. Also under discussion in this part of the chapter is how music functions in commercials, both as foregrounded text and as background. Finally, the section addressing “Reception” discusses specific challenges facing researchers undertaking empirical studies on music and advertising, explores the psychological underpinnings of theory and research in this area, and points to the opportunity for more cross-fertilization of ideas between fields and greater interdisciplinary collaboration.

Library music as a matter of time

“…The synchronisation of music to pictures is widely fraught with a sense of urgency, be it in the context of high-budget, feature-length films (Hoover, 2010), television programmes (Tan et al, 2021), or freelance videography, where the saying 'time is money' is just as prevalent (Joseph, 2017). This perceived 'lack of time' for music-related decisions is particularly noteworthy among videographers who create content for online platforms such as YouTube, often with precipitous production schedules.…”