Music to My Ears: The Influence of Music Genres on Consumer Choice

My research examines how music genres influence consumer psychology, particularly focusing on uncovering the underlying mechanism between music genres and consumer behaviors. Toward this goal, Essay 1 identifies the links between specific music genres and product/brand choice, while Essay 2 explores the positive repercussions that listening to sad music has on prosocial decisions, as well as, higher quality personal consumer choices. In Essay 1, I take a wider look at the influence of music genres, as broad categories of music, and examine how specific genres inform consumer "music mindsets" (elicited through learned associations) that ultimately influence product/brand preference. Specifically, I look at the influence of a competitive mindset, informed by listening to hiphop music, and a down-to-earth mindset, informed by listening to country music, on product and brand choice. Three experiments and one field study demonstrate that listening to hiphop music gives consumers the desire for performance brands and products, as a result of their competitive mindset, while listening to country music gives consumers the desire for products and brands that are focused on the simple comforts in life, as a result of their down-to-earth mindset. The second essay focuses on the positive outcomes of listening to sad music. I hypothesize that sad music moves listeners into a state of positive longing which increases the desire to make prosocial decisions and higher quality personal decisions such as healthy food choices. Two experiments, one lab study, and one field study support the proposed framework and find that listening to sad music can enhance an individual's desire to make positive choices, mediated by a positive longing state. This essay makes important contributions to understanding the impact sad music has in marketing, especially as advertising campaigns (e.g., ASPCA) continue to utilize sad music as a common tactic in their efforts.