Corporate Identity and the Sonic Dimension of Soul
For a long time much of the music in corporate videos has irked me, especially that music found in videos explaining the nature of new startups. Much of the music all seemed to be very much of the same genre, with an inability to differentiate between soundtracks.
Today I found this really interesting fifteen-minute video essay on this theme, and liking it so much I thought it would be really worth a share.
The narration is humourous and quite cutting at times, but it also highlights the way in which companies, brands and organisations are using music to bring in an emotional dimension to their stories, many of which may not be quite as authentic as they first seem. In the video, one example is that of Audio supporting equal pay for women but who came unstuck when it was pointed out that their entire executive team consisted of men.
I myself have grappled with the issue of creating an audio identity for our consultancy, Holonomics, and have really tried to avoid the clichés found in corporate videos. As someone who loves synths and plays effects-driven guitar, my first attempt was a short motif which I found in Garage Band which I created to provide an opening and closing identity for some of our videos. Here is an example in the first ten seconds of this interview with Maria:
The idea really was to create a motif to signal soul and a deeper form of thinking compared to the corporate music industry.
I love music, I love live music and as a complete amateur, I love making music, both electronic as well as guitar. I think this video is really interesting for the way in which is attempting to highlight the way in which both music can lift our souls, revealing inner truths about ourselves, but also can be a way to shortcut our emotional circuitry when true soul is absent.
I woud love to see corporate music evolve and hopfully we will soon be moving away from generic whistling, mandolins and cellos to more soul-stirring productions.
Main image credit: Pixabay
