I just finished listening to deadmau5’s newest album “>album title goes here<“. I really enjoyed it for a number of reasons but one in particular was worth actually writing about. Although I’d already heard 75% of the music, which had been published on deadmau5’s soundcloud before the album came out, I felt like I was listening to each song for the first time. Sure listening to a track that has been fully mixed and mastered as opposed to a low quality YouTube rip is going to sound much better, but my enjoyment stems from much more than just better sound quality. The number one reason I liked listening to this album was the experience of it. The fact that I listened to it through headphones rather than computer speakers or my car radio, having no way to escape the sound, forced me to really listen to each track. The track order, album title, cover art all added on to this experience that led to my enjoyment. I won’t go into the all of the details, but I will say that this experience that I had is something that deadmau5 has pioneered and perfected and is one of, if not the main reason why he is the face of electronic dance music today.
Deadmau5 has always preached experience as being the most important factor in marketing oneself and even explained this through the difference between a roller coaster and an amusement park. People will enjoy riding a roller coaster the first and second time, but eventually they will get bored. “What you need is a theme park” deadmau5 says, because a theme park is an entire experience. The reason people listen to music, or watch a movie over and over again is because of the experience they have. It’s what keeps you coming back.
You want people to come to your theme park and feel like they’re a part of this world of yours.
-deadmau5
Furthermore, if we take this beyond just deadmau5 and beyond marketing, into our own lives we find that experience controls just about every aspect of our lives. When I see my favorite artist, Dave Matthews Band, in concert and I hear Dave Matthews screaming into the microphone during “Don’t Drink The Water” I get goosebumps over my entire body. When I go to a Tampa Bay Lightning game and Marty St. Louis expertly guides the puck into the back of the net with an effortless wrist shot, the arena assaulting my senses with the horn blasting, LED screens flashing, and the crowd roaring. When I go to a movie theater and sit in those comfy seats next to a few friends and watch Christian Bale don the Batman armor and race through the streets of Gotham City in the Bat mobile. All of these things are experiences. They are experiences that I remember and that I enjoy and would gladly have again.
Whether we know it or not everything we do is an experience. Of course, that may sound like an obvious statement but some things we experience without really taking the time to understand. An experience separates Applebee’s from a five-star restaurant from a food truck. They are our high school graduation or an awkward moment with a pretty girl. Experiences can be monumental like a wedding night or a baby’s first steps. They can be mundane like driving to work or watching the news. No matter what you are doing at any given time, your senses are taking it in as an experience and pairing that experience with an emotion. Depending on how intense the emotion is that gets paired with the experience often determines whether or not we remember that experience. This is why holidays such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day are so commercialized. It is about delivering an experience. An experience we now come to expect on these particular days because it is something memorable and a time when we feel something distinct. It is why tickets to a Broadway show or a reservation at a resort are so expensive, because consumers are guaranteed an experience. We are willing to pay to be guaranteed positive experiences because those emotions and memories are important to us.
Anyway, before I get too off track, my point here is this; whether or not something is memorable or creates a distinct emotion in our lives does not change the fact that we are always experiencing these different moments. To use a cliché; life is an experience. Too often people forget this and stop paying attention to these experiences. Life becomes routine and our appreciation for the little things, and even the big things, is lessened. It can be hard to always appreciate the finer things but that’s not even what I’m trying to inspire. What I think is more important is that this ever present experience be always in the back of your mind. Everything we’ve done, are doing, are going to do, is part of this big picture that is our experience. Our amusement park if you will. Remember this fact the next time something really embarrassing happens, or when you’re really angry or have just been dumped. From moments of despair to total bliss it’s all part of the experience. Whether it’s going from track 1 to 16 on deadmau5’s album or going through an entire lifetime, all we can do is try to take it all in and experience it for what it is.
Couch Surfing Chronicles 