Spain – Oct 2024
UPV, top leading technological university in Spain, is one of the partners of the Music360 Horizon Europe project. As one of the most important STEAM institutions in Spain, technology and culture go hand in hand in most of its research. For this reason, the Spanish living labs have been focused on the non-monetary values of music, specifically the cultural and social values, as expression of people’s identity. We have performed our research around background music in two different venues, outdoor (a local festival) and indoor (a supermarket).
Living Lab 1 involves two events celebrated in Torrent (Valencia) in the summer of 2023. The festivals of “Moros y Cristianos” (Moors and Christians) in Spain commemorate events that took place in the XIII Century. It is celebrated in several destinations although the majority are concentrated in the Region of Valencia. Some of the festivals are officially declared as International Tourist Interest, National Tourist Interest, and Regional and Local Tourist Interest. Torrent, a city near Valencia, celebrates its festivities during the last week of July.
Event 1 measures music value in the Entrance (parade) of Moors and Christians, with an historical focus, while Event 2 measures music value in a street party, with a social focus, celebrated also during Torrent festival. In the first case, the possibility to repeat the event is stronger due to the cultural relevance of the event and the local identity involved, but in the second one background music stronger determines the possibility to repeat.
On the other hand, Living Lab 2 has analysed the social and cultural values of background music in a supermarket in three sessions during 2023-2024. Our results connect the language of the songs played and the decade the music belonged to the customer’s cultural and social values.
In this indoor venue, cultural and social values of background music influence customer behaviour when they connect better the customer to the brand. However, this kind of venues do not pay much attention to cultural and social values, and they focus more on emotions. Cultural and social values may not encourage shoppers to spend more money, but they can improve the customer experience and improve their connection with the brand. Anyway, background music is part of a wider experience, which makes it difficult to find a direct positive effect on loyalty or the length of time spent shopping.
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