Music Localization

Q: We never change our music for a commercial translation. Is there benefit to doing so?

A: There is great benefit to localizing music. You can actually increase your impact on your target audience up to 100% with this simple change. Music localization has different impacts on your various audiences. For adverising, a 100% increase in impact is a powerful tool. Yet almost no one uses it. Why? First, most producers and directors never even think of music localization - is not within their experience. And people avoid things in which they have no experience. For those who consider music localization, most are unclear how to select the proper localized music, and some fear that is better to make no change than the wrong change. Because the value of music localization is determined not by the audience - as it should be - but rather by the client’s internal staff, who are notoriously fickle and afraid of change. If you are in advertising and if you are targeting a specific population, and if you know the dialect of that population, then use of music from that dialect - almost any music! - and you commercial or spot will be received much more warmly than with no music localiation at all. Music localization can change a ho-hum commercial that view people absorb, into an exciting experience that gains over 90% of the audience’s full attention. Using music of a style that is beloved by the population makes audiences sit up and really take notice - to really listen to a commercial or radio spot. Exactly what the commercial is for - attention. It is still amazing how many people fear music localization, mostly because they simply cannot “feel” the music themselves, because they are from a different culture. Or, their clients cannot “feel” the music for the same reason, and sadly the client’s opinion is more important than the success of the commercial. It is amazing what a little “salza and merengue” can do for a Spanish commercial, or drums do for an Middle Eastern commercial, or lyre music for an Asian commercial. But, hey! Who wants to increase impact 100% anyhow?

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 mixing & visuals localization