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Music mood is an important metadata type on online music repositories and stream music services worldwide. Many existing studies on mood metadata have focused on music websites and services in the Western world to the exclusion of those serving users in other cultures. The purpose of this paper is to bridge this gap by exploring mood labels on influential Chinese music websites.

Mood labels and the associated song titles were collected from six Chinese music websites, and analyzed in relation to mood models and findings in the literature. An online music listening test was conducted to solicit users’ feedback on the mood labels on two popular Chinese music websites. Mood label selections on 30 songs from 64 Chinese listeners were collected and compared to those given by the two websites.

Mood labels, although extensively employed on Chinese music websites, may be insufficient in meeting listeners’ needs. More mood labels of high arousal semantics are needed. Song languages and user familiarity to the songs show influence on users’ selection of mood labels given by the websites.

Suggestions are proposed for future development of mood metadata and mood-enabled user interfaces in the context of global online music access.

This paper provides insights on understanding the mood metadata on Chinese music websites and uniquely contributes to existing knowledge of culturally diversified music access.

The purpose of this paper is to compare music mood perceptions of people with diverse cultural backgrounds when they interact with Chinese music. It also discusses how the results can inform the design of global music digital libraries (MDL).

An online survey was designed based on the Music Information Retrieval Evaluation eXchange (MIREX) five-cluster mood model, to solicit mood perceptions of listeners in Hong Kong and the USA on a diverse set of Chinese music. Statistical analysis was applied to compare responses from the two user groups, with consideration of different music types and characteristics of listeners. Listeners’ textual responses were also analyzed with content coding.

Listeners from the two cultural groups made different mood judgments on all but one type of Chinese music. Hong Kong listeners reached higher levels of agreement on mood judgments than their US counterparts. Gender, age and familiarity with the songs were related to listeners’ mood judgment to some extent.

The MIREX five-cluster model may not be sufficient for representing the mood of Chinese music. Refinements are suggested. MDL are recommended to differentiate tags given by users from different cultural groups, and to differentiate music types when classifying or recommending Chinese music by mood.

It is the first study on cross-cultural access to Chinese music in MDL. Methods and the refined mood model can be applied to cross-cultural access to other music types and information objects.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the psychological influence that the presence of music has on consumers’ evaluations of the service environment. Specifically, it investigates how emotion regulation processes and the impact of emotions/mood are linked to consumers’ evaluation of service and product quality.

An exploratory study was conducted using industry professionals in order to garner insight about the value of music and its benefits in the service environment. A field experiment was then conducted to test hypotheses.

Industry professionals offer implicit theories about the value of music. Specifically, they propose that music can be used to help customers regulate emotions and improve mood, enhance the customer experience and help in attracting new consumer segments. Results from the field experiment found that those exposed to music were likely to improve mood, express more favorable evaluations of the service and product quality of the establishment, as well as exhibit stronger intentions to continue to patronize the establishment.

Using live music in the service environment can be beneficial to organizations by improving customers’ emotional/psychological status as well as their evaluation of the consumption experience.

This research contributes to the existing literature by demonstrating how emotion regulation processes and the impact of emotions/mood are linked to consumers’ evaluation of service and product quality. Also, support for mood congruency judgment is found. Participants in the field study who had been exposed to music indicated that they made efforts to improve their mood and subsequently had more favorable judgments of service and product quality.

The purpose of this commentary is discuss how musical intervention and imagined interactions can be used to deal with conflict. Music has been called the universal language because of its tonality and rhythm. It affects conflict and aggression and helps people to deal with stress. Research is reviewed showing physiological arousal with background music. The effects of music on aggression are summarized in terms of emotional regulation, catharsis and empathy, and the use of mental imagery in the form of imagined interactions, including relational maintenance catharsis and conflict linkage, is discussed. The incremental sound organizer (ISO) principle of music therapy is discussed as a mechanism to affect emotions while listening to music. Finally, a tool to measure the emotional effect of music on listeners is discussed in terms of the musical mood wheel.

This is a commentary on the effects of background music on reducing aggression.

Music can reduce aggression, depending on how it is used. Music affects how we manage our emotions, reduces stress, provides catharsis and can be a distracting element. Music can enhance empathic feeling; induce positive moods, social bonding, physiological changes and neurobiological changes; and affect our arousal.

Music therapy and musical intervention can be applied to conflict resolution.

The ISO principle of music therapy is designed to deal with changing a person’s emotions as they listen to a medley of music. The mood of the person is measured using a series of scales reflecting a continuum of sadness to happiness, and the music is designed to match the mood of the patient to the music being played and/or listened to, which in turn fosters the achievement of an altered state of consciousness. For example, if you are angry, start with music that is loud and gradually switch to a more tranquil piece of music. “The vectoring power of music is that we change the mood or emotion of persons from one affective pole (joy) to its opposite (anger) through small incremental changes in the rhythm and intensity of the music” (Honeycutt, 2003, p. 82).

Background music in music psychology literature is often referred to as musical intervention. Background music can help us recall positive and negative scenes as the music triggers endorphins in the brain (Salimpoor et al., 2011). Background music is intended to enhance the surrounding context without drawing significant attention. It is often played in spaces such as restaurants, stores, offices or public places to create a certain mood or ambiance.

It is important to note that the effectiveness of musical intervention in reducing aggression can vary based on individual preferences, the specific type of music used, and the context in which it is applied. Additionally, while music intervention can play a role in aggression reduction, it is often most effective when used as part of a comprehensive therapeutic approach.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the causes and implications of potential negative consumer response to music in broadcast commercials. It aims to accomplish this by introducing a new consumer response variable, attitude toward the advertising music (A_am) and relating A_am's components to advertising goals. It also aims to propose that A_am is a significant component of attitude toward the ad (A_ad).

The paper takes the form of an integrative review of the relevant literatures in the psychology of music, consumer marketing, and advertising to formulate A_am.

Favorable A_am is a necessary but insufficient condition for favorable A_ad in ads employing music. Furthermore, a negative A_am might cause a negative A_ad. Given the numerous possible negative responses to music in a TV or radio commercial, achieving a favorable A_am among most target audience members is very challenging, especially when music‐message fit is lacking.

The paper offers cautionary advice for advertisers using music and directions for future research.

The paper provides a novel integration of literatures in psychology and marketing/advertising. Whereas most scholars and practitioners assume that music adds value to commercials, the authors demonstrate key ways in which music can cause adverse listener reactions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of atmospherics on in-store behaviour among Malay Muslim shoppers in Malaysia. The effect of age on shopping behaviour is tested using two age groups: 18-25 years and 50 years or older.

Quantitative methodology was employed, using structural equation modelling for testing the hypotheses developed. Purposive sampling was applied.

Results of the present study show that positive perceptions of atmospherics exerted a positive influence on mood, which, in turn, affected in-store behaviour. Based on stimulus–organism–response theory, Muslim shoppers who were positive about the atmospherics tend to spend more time and money, and they exhibited intention to patronize the store again.

Although past studies suggest that Muslim consumers are different due to their Islamic way of life, guided by the Islamic principles, by controlling for country-specific influences such as socio-economic factors, the results of this study provide support that modern marketing concepts are as relevant for the Muslim market as they are relevant for other market segments. Using the Mehrabian–Russell framework, Malay Muslims are found to be influenced by store atmospherics which, in turn, affect their in-store shopping behaviour. When comparing younger and older Muslims, results show no evidence of significant differences between these two age groups.

Describes an experiment conducted comparing the effects of background and foreground music on clothing store shoppers. Concludes that choosing to play store music solely to satisfy customers′ preferences may not be the optimal approach; instead music should be varied across areas of a store that appeal to different‐aged customers.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a model of consumer response to music in broadcast commercials outlining four variables (listening situation, musical stimulus, listener characteristics, and advertising processing strategy) that affect a consumer's attitude toward the advertising music (A_am).

The paper takes the form of an integrative review of the relevant literatures from the psychology of music, marketing, and advertising.

A_am can be positively but also negatively influenced by many factors. Only some of these variables are employed in any typical study on consumer response to music, which may account for some conflicting findings.

The paper discusses factors for effectively using commercial music to affect A_am, with special focus on advertising processing strategy. Advertisers are urged to exercise extreme caution in using music and to always pretest its use considering factors identified in this paper. The paper suggests ways in which the model can guide future research.

The paper integrates diverse literatures and outlines the major variables comprising our model of consumer response to advertising music. Advertisers can use these variables as a checklist for factors to consider in selecting ad music.

A literature review of relevant empirical research examining the influence of background music within the context of service environments is presented. Studies revealing significant relationships between specific musical variables and desired consumer behavioural outcomes are displayed in a visual framework entitled the Musicscape. This framework draws on Bitner’s model of the Servicescape, which highlights music as just one of a range of ambient conditions influencing behaviour. The Musicscape provides an extended version of Bitner’s Servicescape model by focusing in detail on just one of these elements, the musical variable. Additional figures demonstrate an even more focused breakdown of Musicscape interactions by including arrows which identify the direction of significant relationships revealed in empirical studies. The framework portrays in visual terms the inherent complexity of attempts to influence response and subsequent behaviour by using music within a service environment.

The purpose of this review is to examine the influence of music on consumption experience and explore the relationships between musical variables and consumer responses in the context of retailing.

The paper is based on the review of studies conducted over last 30 years, empirical and conceptual, dealing with a large number of music‐related variables and their impact on various dimensions of consumption experience.

The studies report that music influences consumption experience at cognitive, emotional, and behavioural levels, specifically with regard to attitudes and perceptions, time and money spend, and moods and feelings, in retail experience. The influence of music is moderated by customer and store profiles, purchase timings, and other ambience factors.

The study provides important insights into critical issues related to influence of music, for future research.

The research brings out important issues for designing musical environment in the retail stores to influence shopping experience and consumer responses.

Based on a critical review of important studies, the present paper proposes a framework to understand the effect of music on consumption experience in retail stores.