Music is perhaps the most universally recognized art form. It has the ability to inspire, not just visual artists, but also the general public. It can fill a void and block out everyday noise. But is it really that important to spend time on music, rhythm, and tone in a business context?

The short answer is: Yes.

Significance of music

For Hallingdal residents, especially "the cabin residentials," the radio during easter on Radio Hallingdal is a well-known and beloved phenomenon. Behind the facade of reports, interviews, auctions, greetings, quizzes, and music lies a team of volunteers who weave together ten days of continuous entertainment. In this tradition, music and sound are essential elements for bringing people together in a community.

My own experience with radio work started when I was five years old, joining my father, Knut Medhus, as a technician, journalist, and later producer. In the early years, I was mostly concerned with doing as I was told, playing the "quiet game."
Over the years, I learned how proper use of music, sound levels (volume), jingles, and sound effects can set a mood and engage listeners. Music has accompanied me throughout my life, from childhood memories with Kenny Rogers on the car cassette player to working as a music secretary at Radio Nova in Oslo.

But what does this have to do with "music for businesses"? Music is more than just entertainment. It is a tool that can be strategically used in communication to strengthen brand identity.

Music in business film presentations

In film production, the role of music can be crucial in keeping viewers engaged throughout. The music should not only fill the silence from drone shots without sound. It should convey a feeling that can strengthen the message in the film. Consider the following example:

A drone shot shows a quiet mountain landscape at dawn. Birds are chirping, and the four-legged creatures are resting. It's a calm, peaceful atmosphere. The film is meant to represent a company offering cabin cleaning, and the images create a sense of early morning calm before the day's work begins. The choice of music is crucial—it supports the narrative of a company that must start early to ensure the cabins are clean and tidy for their new owners arriving with moving boxes later in the day.

To mirror a feeling of tranquility and harmony, it would be most appropriate to choose music with a simple structure. Perhaps acoustic instruments like piano or flute. This music choice would highlight the company's reliability and the quality of their work. On the other hand, if one had chosen dubstep or complex musical structures with heavy bass and hard drum beats, it would have created a sense of unrest and chaos, which would not match the message of peace and perfection.

Everyone understands that cleaning a cabin before takeover—possibly with a developer hanging over them and an electrician needing to do the final touch because the outdoor lamp arrived by courier the night before—is hectic and demanding. But the feeling you—the business manager of the cleaning company—sell, is harmony and cleanliness.
Music has the ability to shape the audience's perception and emotions. When you choose the right music for film production, you enhance the images and highlight the product or service being discussed.
Music becomes a strategic tool for how a message is perceived.

Hallingcast often uses music from catalogs like Musicbed or Audiio to find the right sound for the image. Depending on the budget, we spend anywhere from a few minutes to several hours finding just the right music that hits the emotion and enhances the message of the commissioner's product.

Composed film music for brands

When building strong brands, generic music choices from music catalogs are not always sufficient. Consider brands like Finn.no, Telenor, and McDonald’s. If I ask you to close your eyes and think of these brands, you can probably hum their jingle or "sound logo" when you open your eyes again. These unique sound signatures are composed to represent the brand in a way that no generic standard music from an online catalog service can.

Creating such a sound logo or original film music for a brand is a demanding and complex process that requires specialized expertise. Therefore, at Hallingcast, we choose to collaborate with Ådne Lyngstad Nilsen when a business wants to build its brand with a unique sound identity that sets them apart from the crowd.

Finally, an internal example

We have worked with sound for several brands, both externally and internally. Externally, this includes Skaugum Cutlery Factory and Hallingdal Cabin Service, while internally, we have developed sound logos for both Kantefølflak and Hallingcast. In our case, we started with a vignette for our early (now antique) films from the green screen studio, and expanded to pause music for our live streams. This has given us a recognizable sound logo that we consistently use in everything we produce internally.

In the film on our main page (on the button "See the film about Hallingcast"), we commissioned specially composed music from Ådne. The brief for the music was as follows:

• The film starts with beautiful drone shots from Hallingdal.
• After a few seconds, we move to a typical interview situation.
• The interviewee struggles to find the words—it's hard to talk about oneself.
• The situation is relieved when the interviewee is interrupted by a phone (saved by the dong).
• In the background, surprisingly, we see someone performing high jumps.
• The interviewee must call for help, and the situation suddenly becomes more serious.
• The awkward interview transitions to a more heroic scene, where a wise man comes to the rescue
• A narrator takes over, and the film concludes.

See the film about Hallingcast here (remember to turn on the sound):

 

Although this film was made using a "happy go lucky" method, where extras were asked the day before, the script written on post-it notes, and the weather conditions unpredictable, the music production was meticulously planned. The music was tailored to each scene and concludes with the same tones as our sound logo. The film was produced parallel to the music and carefully edited to match the rhythm and tempo from the music to the very end.

Even though Hallingcast is not as well-known as Finn.no or McDonald’s, it's about being true to the brand and maintaining a consistent theme throughout the branding process.

For Inspiration

We aim to inspire other businesses to think strategically about their use of music. By strategically using music and sound, you can ensure your brand stands out and is remembered.

It's about building a sound identity that supports the brand in the long term, not just choosing a random piece of music from a catalog, even though this works excellently in the budget version.