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Introduction
While previous arts marketing research frequently considers the value of live music (e.g. Homan, 2011) and designated music venues (e.g. Kronenburg, 2011), the current paper examines shopping soundtracks, specifically the pre‐recorded music heard within a department store. Despite the relatively low cultural status of the latter form of music, it is proposed that all music is capable of transforming perceptions of the environment in which it is heard, and eliciting immediate emotional and behavioural responses, regardless of whether it is passively heard as a background element or actively listened to as a live performance in a dedicated venue (Oakes and Warnaby, 2011). While Bradshaw and Holbrook (2008) identify background store music as an example of culture that has become degraded by marketers as a means of social control, previous research also questions the automatic categorisation and privileging of “high art” over “low art” (e.g. Visconti et al., 2010; Oakes and Warnaby, 2011; Oakes and Oakes, 2012).
Consequently, this study examines the consumer experience of music within different retail zones of a department store. Such research is valuable because music contributes crucially to environmental aesthetics and is regularly used to make shopping environments more attractive to consumers. Kotler (1973) introduces the concept of atmospherics (including sound) as a controlled marketing tool. Bitner (1992) develops this theme by introducing the servicescape concept highlighting music as one of a range of physical environment dimensions (e.g. temperature, air quality and scent) that impact upon cognitive, affective and behavioural responses of consumers and employees within service environments. While music is a key component of the servicescape, the specific influence of music upon consumers is identified in various reviews of quantitative studies examining the impact of the musicscape (e.g. Oakes and North, 2008). In contrast, the current study involves introspective research and considers music more holistically within the context of the entire consumer shopping experience including exposure to the full range of servicescape elements and personal interactions with employees and other customers.
This paper acknowledges the need to expand upon the literature that examines how music may be used to influence consumers in commercial environments. The subjectivity and autobiographical complexity of consumer response to music illustrate the narrow perspective of many studies regarding music as merely the functional and...