Selecting The Right Music For Events

When you’re applying for a job (or really, doing anything else in life), how you sound is just as important as how you look. Why should event management be any different? A bit of musical flair can be the difference between a good event and a great one.

Today, we’re going to discuss what’s involved in making your event sound awesome (literally).

Know Your Attendees

The first question you need to ask yourself is “who’s going to be attending?” A group of distinguished business professionals aren’t going to enjoy the same music as a bunch of millennial tech geeks; neither group is likely to share an inclination for the type of music young anime fans might enjoy. Though I’m not terribly fond of generalizing, certain groups of people like certain genres and styles of music; be sure to take this fact into account.

Make Sure Your Venue And Event Are Suited For It

No two events are exactly alike, and before you get all excited about hiring a DJ or licensing out a metric ton of songs, you need to first ensure that the venue you’ve selected is suitable for music of any sort – and if it is, whether or not there are any areas where music might not go over so well.

I’ll give an example: I attended the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo during the last weekend of April, like I do every year.  The exhibition halls were packed with vendors, artists, and comic book fans of all shapes and sizes. The noise was such that we could barely hear any of the announcements being made over the sound system; had they played music during the convention, no one would have even noticed.

That said; there were quite a few conference rooms, ballrooms, and arenas where a DJ could have set up shop (and if memory serves, there actually was a live band or two).

License Your Songs (Or Hire A Band)

Now for the fun part (I say that facetiously): you get to either tromp your way through the gleeful nightmare that is song and music licensing, or track down a DJ/live band to play at your event (and make sure you’re able to fit them into your schedule). Either way, you’re going to have to do a bit of legwork, and possibly pop an aspirin or two in the process.

The best advice I can give you here is to try focusing on local bands or open-source music, if possible. It’ll probably save you a pretty penny, if you do.

Get Your Sound System Working

Alright, so you’ve established that setting your event to music isn’t a waste of time? Good. Your next step is to get your sound system up and running. This should actually be the simplest part of the whole process, as all you’re going to need to do is run through the same readiness process you use for the rest of your equipment. Once you’ve made certain everything’s in working order, all that’s left to do is wait.

In Closing

Not every event can benefit from an injection of music, but there’s quite a few that can. Use your best judgment and choose the right songs, and your event will be far better for it. Music is the universal language, after all – you don’t necessarily have to even understand the words of a song to enjoy it, and the event at which it’s played.