[13] These three compositions came to encapsulate the composer's approach to 'conceptual music', as theorised by Kreidler himself and by the philosopher Harry Lehmann in subsequent lectures, essays and publications.

[4] Much of Johannes Kreidler's music is characterised by extensive sampling and quotation, and the use of algorithmic processes to generate material.

[9][2][27] At the premiere of his Fremdarbeit, the composer announced, "Tonight's goal is that no one here will ever vote for the FDP again" (referring to the German Free Democratic Party who are associated with economic liberalism and free-market capitalism).

[28] Since the early 2010s, Johannes Kreidler has increasingly described his compositional approach as Konzeptmusik or 'conceptual music', a direct reference to the conceptual art movement of the 1960s and 1970s.

[14][a] This paradigm of conceptual music is heavily indebted to the work and theory of his teacher Mathias Spahlinger, and to the philosopher Harry Lehmann's notion of the 'Gehalt-aesthetic Turn'.

[2][29] In his lectures and essays, Kreidler has also described other works in these terms, including those of Cory Arcangel, Peter Ablinger and John Cage.

Max Erwin has identified 'New Conceptualism' as a coherent aesthetic orientation for a significant group of composers from at least four continents, including Kreidler, Stefan Prins and Jennifer Walshe.