For over 75 years, the brilliant minds at HARMAN have harnessed the power and spirit of music of all kinds - from reggae and pop to rock and rhythm and blues and every genre in between - to engineer industry-leading innovations in the audio space. Our passion for music runs deep through every member of the HARMAN family, and that was particularly true on Make Music Day!
This year, encompassing more than 5,000 free outdoor concerts, performances, music lessons and jam sessions nationwide, the musical free-for-all event organized every year in June provides the perfect opportunity to celebrate the power of a driving force in our organization: music.
Observed in more than 1,000 cities and 120 countries around the world, this year marked the 40th anniversary of Make Music Day. Thousands of amateur musicians play in public spaces, often for their first time, and everyone was invited to sing along and enjoy a musical experience unlike another. Want to learn more about how HARMAN celebrated this year? Read below!
The return of Street Studios
Once again, we returned as the official sound of Make Music Day and encouraged music lovers from cities around the world to join us as we took to the streets to celebrate Make Music Day with our ever-popular Street Studios! Hosted by HARMAN and with the help of our industry-leading audio innovations, world-class DJs and producers set up their mobile recording studios in front of art galleries, on downtown plazas, and in parks in cities across the world, with Street Studios in 11 cities and across 5 countries (Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Hungary and the U.S.). In one afternoon, producers invited passersby from the community to join in a completely improvised music creation session. At the end of the day, each producer mixed down one track, using only the material recorded on-site, to share the sounds of their city with the world.
Rocking out with members of the HARMAN family
To help us portray the special place music holds in all of our hearts, professionally and personally, members of the HARMAN family shared homemade music videos that encapsulated special moments in their relationships with music. As part of our employee engagement program, we selected three timeless songs, “Respect” by Aretha Franklin, “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, and “Let it Be” by The Beatles, and asked employees to share videos of themselves singing their favorite verses. HARMAN edited these snippets into powerful music videos that will be shared with all employees.
Revealing truths about the power of music in our latest consumer survey
In celebration of Make Music Day and in collaboration with YouGov, music lovers in the US, the UK, France, Japan, Germany, Spain and the Netherlands participated in a survey providing fascinating insights into their relationship to music and its influence on society. Specifically, they were asked questions that sought to reveal truths about the importance of music in people’s lives and its power to act as a social catalyst for positive change. Around 28% of survey respondents in the US said they listen to music for both entertainment and for deeper meaning. Music can foster a sense of belonging, inspire strong emotional responses, and motivate people to take action. Survey respondents agreed: 60% said that music influences human emotions and behavior to motivate more people to fight for societal issues; this figure climbs to 70% among 18 to 25-year-olds. Forty-two percent of Americans feel that certain songs inspire them to get involved in social movements, while 66% consider music to be a trigger for remembering important moments and events in society, such as 9/11 and Independence Day.
Music has been the lifeblood of HARMAN since its founding over 75 years ago. Its influence runs deep through every aspect of our work, starting internally with the ways we encourage our employees to express themselves, support their loved ones, and serve their communities, and expanding outward to our consumers, pushing us to innovate and produce products that set a new standard for quality and luxury for all of their audio experiences. Make Music Day reminds us to be grateful for the power of music, something we take for granted during the year. Thank you to all our people – employees, musicians, consumers and audiophiles – for playing an instrumental role in inspiring us to create the best audio experiences we can!