国上浒文通大学 The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies sung at the beginning or the end of the film with the credits,usually telling the overall emotion of the piece.When the theme song is named for the title of the work,it is the title song(Reitz,2004).At the very beginning,theme music is used for establishing a mood or providing a cue that a particular scene is about to happen,which is really useful in early days of radio and movies.In some cases,the lyrics of the theme song provide necessary exposition for people who may not be very familiar with the previous stories. By this,Kenkichi and Takehisa(2006)find out a way to construct a system which generates variations on a theme music fitting to story scenes represented by texts and/or pictures,which provides a very specific way of how to compose a piece of melody to express a certain mood.Also,methods used for music mood classification to assist in the automated tagging of theme tunes are also proposed (Mann Cox,2011).In modern times,with the development of the movie industry,theme music is more like a representation of the series or the protagonist. In addition,in some certain cases such as The Sound of Music,the theme tunes included in the movie is of more value than the movie itself(Although the movie also hit $158,671,368 in the year of 1965,which is rather considerable).Also,the song with the same name from movie Mamma Mia!suddenly becomes the brand ABBA's most favorable song But under most circumstances,theme music is drawn from previous character ofrelated works or about the character itself,such as the Batman:The Animated Series theme song,which was drawn from the theme for the 1989 Batman film created by Danny Elfman and set the mood for the cartoon.Another example is the theme song of Spider- Man:The Animated Series,which featured a reworked cover of the theme song from the classic Spider-Man cartoon from the 1960s.The song was performed by Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry. In these cases,the producer wants to memorize the hero figure that he is trying to present on the screen by using the theme song,while audiences remember such characters by humming the theme song,which spreads like virus. 2.2 Marketing theories Marketing as a field of practice and an academic discipline is a contentious area.This is partly due to the perception of marketing as finding ways in which to sell things to people that they do not want or need like some soft products such as insurance,because of which marketing has been blamed for many social ills and many critics of marketing and critical marketers have examined the dark side in marketing (Kerrigan,2010). -5-
The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies - 5 - sung at the beginning or the end of the film with the credits, usually telling the overall emotion of the piece. When the theme song is named for the title of the work, it is the title song ( Reitz, 2004). At the very beginning, theme music is used for establishing a mood or providing a cue that a particular scene is about to happen, which is really useful in early days of radio and movies. In some cases, the lyrics of the theme song provide necessary exposition for people who may not be very familiar with the previous stories. By this, Kenkichi and Takehisa (2006) find out a way to construct a system which generates variations on a theme music fitting to story scenes represented by texts and/or pictures, which provides a very specific way of how to compose a piece of melody to express a certain mood. Also, methods used for music mood classification to assist in the automated tagging of theme tunes are also proposed (Mann & Cox, 2011). In modern times, with the development of the movie industry, theme music is more like a representation of the series or the protagonist. In addition, in some certain cases such as The Sound of Music, the theme tunes included in the movie is of more value than the movie itself (Although the movie also hit $158,671,368 in the year of 1965, which is rather considerable). Also, the song with the same name from movie Mamma Mia! suddenly becomes the brand ABBA’s most favorable song. But under most circumstances, theme music is drawn from previous character of related works or about the character itself, such as the Batman: The Animated Series theme song, which was drawn from the theme for the 1989 Batman film created by Danny Elfman and set the mood for the cartoon. Another example is the theme song of SpiderMan: The Animated Series, which featured a reworked cover of the theme song from the classic Spider-Man cartoon from the 1960s. The song was performed by Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry. In these cases, the producer wants to memorize the hero figure that he is trying to present on the screen by using the theme song, while audiences remember such characters by humming the theme song, which spreads like virus. 2.2 Marketing theories Marketing as a field of practice and an academic discipline is a contentious area. This is partly due to the perception of marketing as finding ways in which to sell things to people that they do not want or need like some soft products such as insurance, because of which marketing has been blamed for many social ills and many critics of marketing and critical marketers have examined the dark side in marketing (Kerrigan, 2010)
国上浒文通大学 The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies However,the American Marketing Association launched a new definition of marketing at their 2004 Summer Educator's Conference:"Marketing is the activity,set of institutions,and processes for creating,communicating,delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers,clients,partners,and society at large"(AMA, 2007). When it comes to the marketing of the arts or within the cultural and creative industries, such notions of putting customers at the center is contested.As one of the basic elements of the"Customer as King"philosophical approach to marketing is to find out what the customer wants,there is a clear tension between this approach and the process of product development and marketing in the film industry,which is in common with other arts sectors.Once the film is completed,issues of marketing,consumption of the film and economic value of cultural industries are considered. Film marketing,in line with the marketing management processes in other industries, begins at the new product development stage and continues throughout the formation of the project ideas,through production and distribution and exhibition."If film consumption can be seen as a journey,it may be difficult to identify the beginning and the end of such a journey"(Kerrigan,2010,4-5).In this way,film consumption may be viewed as a more cyclical activity and film consuming may be inspired by other cultural products such as music,etc. Meanwhile,since films have become an essential asset to transnational media corporations (TNMCs)such as Sony,Time Warner or Disney,these and other corporations have utilized a strategy called event movie since the 1990s (Jockel Dobler,2006).The event movie strategy takes advantage of the film industry's macro structure and combines established concepts (blockbuster,high-concept marketing) with new business models,turning the value chain to value cycle. Last but not least,Lane and Husemann(2004)argue that interest-based word-of-mouth effects and advertising play an important role in the marketing of movies,applying a formal theory for the causal mechanisms underlying viewing figures for cinema films, by drawing upon a range of diffusion theories,using specific illustration from sociology, epidemiology and marketing.We believe that theme music is a very effective way of word-of-mouth advertising strategy of one film.Although such role of theme music is not clarified in the article,it is reasonable inference. -6-
The Marketing Influence of Theme Music in Disney Movies - 6 - However, the American Marketing Association launched a new definition of marketing at their 2004 Summer Educator’s Conference: “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large” (AMA, 2007). When it comes to the marketing of the arts or within the cultural and creative industries, such notions of putting customers at the center is contested. As one of the basic elements of the “Customer as King” philosophical approach to marketing is to find out what the customer wants, there is a clear tension between this approach and the process of product development and marketing in the film industry, which is in common with other arts sectors. Once the film is completed, issues of marketing, consumption of the film and economic value of cultural industries are considered. Film marketing, in line with the marketing management processes in other industries, begins at the new product development stage and continues throughout the formation of the project ideas, through production and distribution and exhibition. “If film consumption can be seen as a journey, it may be difficult to identify the beginning and the end of such a journey” (Kerrigan, 2010, 4-5). In this way, film consumption may be viewed as a more cyclical activity and film consuming may be inspired by other cultural products such as music, etc. Meanwhile, since films have become an essential asset to transnational media corporations (TNMCs) such as Sony, Time Warner or Disney, these and other corporations have utilized a strategy called event movie since the 1990s (Jöckel & Döbler, 2006). The event movie strategy takes advantage of the film industry’s macro structure and combines established concepts (blockbuster, high-concept marketing) with new business models, turning the value chain to value cycle. Last but not least, Lane and Husemann (2004) argue that interest-based word-of-mouth effects and advertising play an important role in the marketing of movies, applying a formal theory for the causal mechanisms underlying viewing figures for cinema films, by drawing upon a range of diffusion theories, using specific illustration from sociology, epidemiology and marketing. We believe that theme music is a very effective way of word-of-mouth advertising strategy of one film. Although such role of theme music is not clarified in the article, it is reasonable inference