If you’re in advertising and you’re able to utilize completely original compositions for your background tunes, that’s when you’ll create the most eye-catching campaigns.
But what about other techniques? Can you still integrate music creatively, even if it’s not 100% unique?
As we sat down with Matthew Alexander, Creative Director at Standard Practice in Boulder, CO, to discuss his methods for incorporating music into advertisements, he revealed his openness to various routes to finding the best soundtracks as well as the considerations that go into his decision-making.
Overall, Matthew described his team’s attitude as “pretty open-minded, and we're not looking to emulate something. It’s mostly just in service of whatever that creative idea is, which can be a wide spectrum. For instance, it can be ambient, tonal, or something more contemporary.”
He even emphasized a flexible approach regarding their typical process. “We work with a post-production house, maybe give the editor a certain vibe, and ask them to find a track based off of that. If it's feeling close or right, then maybe we'll go search for something similar. Occasionally we'll do original, or we'll engage a composer. Sometimes it's from a music house, and then sometimes it's just straight up stock track.”
Despite his flexibility with exploring various approaches, make no mistake - Matthew still seeks excellence. For instance, “If we spend enough time in a stock music library, we will find the one gem out of the 10,000. And so, often that's what we do.”
Matthew also touched on the inevitable obstacles he encounters, no matter how he selects his background music:
“I'd say one challenge for us is that music often comes in at the end of the process. There's so many things going on that sometimes it can be hard to pick a song before we've even shot anything."
Furthermore, budgeting constraints can be a major factor, as well. “There's definitely budget limitations, not just with music but across the board. We are often asked to deliver more, and for it to cost less. Sometimes, the music gets kind of chopped. Same with animation and some post-production work.”
In the end, music customization seems to be the most ideal situation for Matthew – even if it’s just a fine line to perfect:
“We know that a good music track can elevate or sync a video, so we try really hard to make sure that we're finding the right thing. I would definitely be interested in customizing the music more because I would love it if we had more control on driving home a feeling at specific moments in our work.”
He even provided an example of when customized music enhanced one of his ads: “One of my favorite projects we worked on was for Clayton Holmes, which you might see on our website. In that case, we were able to engage a composer directly, which was nice, because we could start to hone it in. Overall, I was really pleased with how that turned out.”
Although customized music strengthens ads tremendously, AI seems to have permeated all creative landscapes as we know them – but not completely. Matthew discussed his feelings on the matter:
“I haven’t worked with artificial intelligence with music at all in any way, unless I did it without my knowledge. That can happen. That said, I will definitely use it when it comes to research.
“When people use AI for images, I get why they use it, but I wish they didn't have to. If they use AI, I think they probably don't have the budget to source 100 images a day and hire a photographer. So, that kind of bums me out, because I wish that they could, but I kind of get it. But when it's something that I think could have used a real human, it really makes me sad.”
We echo Matthew’s sentiments, especially when it comes to music – unheard music matters. It speaks to authentic human emotion, far better than recycled noise that chokes creativity.
If you want to beat your competitors in advertising, think of how meeting with composers could pay off in the long run. Sure, this strategy may take longer than searching a stock music library, but the results will be game-changing.
Still unsure? First, learn more about who we are, our approach, and why our customized music is so powerful.
