The New Sony Spot Features Some Real Party Animals

To mark the launch of the party perfect GTK-XB7 one-box high power audio system, Sony has created the Music Preference in Domestic Dogs report – a scientific study exploring music preference in household dogs, which reveals canines rate high-tempo hits over classical concertos.

To sit alongside the study, Sony also conducted a video and sound experiment curated by innovative production company Unit 9. In the ‘Party Animals’ video, sound is visualised through animal reactions with the help of the new one-box high powered audio system GTK-XB7 to the beat of Martin Garrix’s ground breaking electronic dance hit ‘Animals’.

The Study – Canines prefer Beyoncé to Beethoven

Knowing that music is best enjoyed with our nearest and dearest, Sony looked at what man’s best friend would most prefer to tune into if given the choice – calming classical concertos or upbeat, high-tempo chart hits.  Working with animal perception expert Dr Anna Wilkinson, Senior Lecturer at the School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, alongside PhD student Natalia Albuquerque, Sony conducted the Music Preference in Domestic Dogs study. Dr Wilkinson is also a member the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB), a European society dedicated to the study of animal behaviour.

The study found a strong fondness of chart hits over well-known classical concertos, with 62 per cent of dogs spontaneously choosing to listen to modern music compared to only 38 per cent who chose classical. When given 10 choices between the two genres in the preference task, dogs chose the chart hits significantly more than classical; with canines more likely to spend more time around the speaker that played upbeat chart hits than the speaker playing classical; suggesting they enjoyed listening to the high-tempo tunes with a beat more. 

Two Sony GTK-XB7 audio systems were used during the experiment as means of playing popular or classical music to the canines, with their reactions documented and compared. Music was played from both speakers, one song on each speaker, and songs were presented in pairs and the placement of the speaker, as well as the order of song combinations was randomised, to ensure an unbiased result. Stimuli included five famous classical songs, featuring composers such as Mozart and Pachelbel, as well as five famed chart artists from Elvis Presley to Justin Bieber.