A study of the drivers of marketability of Hindi film music in the Indian context

Abstract

The cultural impact and musical nuances of popular songs has been well researched. However, their marketing ramifications are hardly discussed in current research. This paper adopts an exploratory approach and proposes a model and tries to explain the different facets of popular film music that influences its acceptability and marketability. The context is Indian Bollywood film songs. Following extant literature on music marketing it is theorized that music arouses emotion and that creates affinity among the listeners, this affinity gets diffused among the larger audience through sociological processes like collective effervescence and emotional contagion. On the other hand music is marketed both as an experience and as service and therefore packaged to serve consumer needs. Initially we conducted focus group interviews to find the variables that influenced marketability of Hindi film songs. Based on the findings we conducted a exploratory factor analysis that indicated that emotional arousal remains the primary reason for the pervasiveness of Hindi songs in Indian psyche and from the marketing perspective __sound design__ and packaging of music ensures maximum consumption.