Music Consumption Research Articles

Songs for Ordinary People

This article aims to illuminate the links between culture and class in the post-socialist years in the Czech Republic. To this end, it considers the reception of two music acts—the country folk duo Bratři Nedvědi in the 1990s and the “nationalist rock” band Ortel in the 2010s—and discusses the labeling of their fans based on their social class profiles. My analysis draws on mainstream Czech media coverage of these acts, materials reflecting fans’ perspectives, and broader scholarly debates about the links between music consumption and social class. One similarity between these bands lay in their decision to forsake their original subcultural fans for a more mainstream audience. A second commonality relates to the dismissal of their mainstream fans by cultural elites, who saw them as backward and out of step with the norms of liberal democracy and Western capitalism. These critics often described these types of Czech music as lowbrow and regressive. Meanwhile, the two bands continued to insist that they were making songs for “ordinary people” rather than elites: their fan bases, while not homogenous, remained largely working class. This study considers key intersections between class, age, ethnicity, and gender in Czech post-socialist society. I argue that certain kinds of local musical taste reflect class differences, which are further shaped by age, gender, and political orientation.

Explainability in music recommender systems

AbstractThe most common way to listen to recorded music nowadays is via streaming platforms, which provide access to tens of millions of tracks. To assist users in effectively browsing these large catalogs, the integration of music recommender systems (MRSs) has become essential. Current real‐world MRSs are often quite complex and optimized for recommendation accuracy. They combine several building blocks based on collaborative filtering and content‐based recommendation. This complexity can hinder the ability to explain recommendations to end users, which is particularly important for recommendations perceived as unexpected or inappropriate. While pure recommendation performance often correlates with user satisfaction, explainability has a positive impact on other factors such as trust and forgiveness, which are ultimately essential to maintain user loyalty.In this article, we discuss how explainability can be addressed in the context of MRSs. We provide perspectives on how explainability could improve music recommendation algorithms and enhance user experience. First, we review common dimensions and goals of recommenders explainability and in general of eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI), and elaborate on the extent to which these apply—or need to be adapted—to the specific characteristics of music consumption and recommendation. Then, we show how explainability components can be integrated within a MRS and in what form explanations can be provided. Since the evaluation of explanation quality is decoupled from pure accuracy‐based evaluation criteria, we also discuss requirements and strategies for evaluating explanations of music recommendations. Finally, we describe the current challenges for introducing explainability within a large‐scale industrial MRS and provide research perspectives.

The impact of COVID-19 on music consumption and music spending.

COVID-19 induced restrictions ordered by governments around the world have been an exogenous shock to the music industry, which we divide into two affected groups: 1) live music events and 2) recorded music. While the impact on live music events is rather obvious, it is unclear how the current pandemic is affecting the recorded music market. Hence, we study consumers’ pre- and post-pandemic shifts in consumer spending (in euros) and music consumption (in hours) across live music events, as well as the digital and physical submarkets of recorded music, in the world’s fourth largest music market, Germany. Relying on an online bi-annual panel capturing five waves between winter 2018/19 and winter 2020/21, we find that the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the continuous trend towards digitalization of the music landscape with premium streaming being the biggest beneficiary. However, total monthly consumer spending on music decreased by more than 45% compared to pre-pandemic, with live music events and physical sales being the most severely affected. Surprisingly, music consumption in hours also decreased during the lockdown even though consumers spent more time at home.

Controllable Music Playlist Generation Based on Knowledge Graph and Reinforcement Learning.

In this study, we propose a novel music playlist generation method based on a knowledge graph and reinforcement learning. The development of music streaming platforms has transformed the social dynamics of music consumption and paved a new way of accessing and listening to music. The playlist generation is one of the most important multimedia techniques, which aims to recommend music tracks by sensing the vast amount of musical data and the users’ listening histories from music streaming services. Conventional playlist generation methods have difficulty capturing the target users’ long-term preferences. To overcome the difficulty, we use a reinforcement learning algorithm that can consider the target users’ long-term preferences. Furthermore, we introduce the following two new ideas: using the informative knowledge graph data to promote efficient optimization through reinforcement learning, and setting the flexible reward function that target users can design the parameters of itself to guide target users to new types of music tracks. We confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method by verifying the prediction performance based on listening history and the guidance performance to music tracks that can satisfy the target user’s unique preference.

From Compact Discs to Streaming: A Comparison of Eras within the Brazilian Market

The music industry has undergone many changes in the last few decades, notably since vinyl, cassettes and compact discs faded away as streaming platforms took the world by storm. This Digital evolution has made huge volumes of data about music consumption available. Based on such data, we perform cross-era comparisons between Physical and Digital media within the music market in Brazil. First, we build artists' success time series to detect and characterize hot streak periods, defined as high-impact bursts that occur in sequence, in both eras. Then, we identify groups of artists with distinct success levels by applying a cluster analysis based on hot streaks' features. We find the same clusters for both Physical and Digital eras: Spike Hit Artists, Big Hit Artists, and Top Hit Artists. Our results reveal significant changes in the music industry dynamics over the years by identifying the core of each era.

From Compact Discs to Streaming: A Comparison of Eras within the Brazilian Market

The music industry has undergone many changes in the last few decades, notably since vinyl, cassettes and compact discs faded away as streaming platforms took the world by storm. This Digital evolution has made huge volumes of data about music consumption available. Based on such data, we perform cross-era comparisons between Physical and Digital media within the music market in Brazil. First, we build artists' success time series to detect and characterize hot streak periods, defined as high-impact bursts that occur in sequence, in both eras. Then, we identify groups of artists with distinct success levels by applying a cluster analysis based on hot streaks' features. We find the same clusters for both Physical and Digital eras: Spike Hit Artists, Big Hit Artists, and Top Hit Artists. Our results reveal significant changes in the music industry dynamics over the years by identifying the core of each era.

‘Don’t mess with my algorithm’: Exploring the relationship between listeners and automated curation and recommendation on music streaming services

Given access to huge online collections of music on streaming platforms such as Spotify or Apple Music, users have become increasingly reliant on algorithmic recommender systems and automated curation and discovery features to find and curate music. Based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews with 15 active users of music streaming services, this article critically examines the user experience of music recommendation and streaming, seeking to understand how listeners interact with and experience these systems, and asking how recommendation and curation features define their use in a new and changing landscape of music consumption and discovery. This paper argues that through daily interactions with algorithmic features and curation, listeners build complex socio-technical relationships with these algorithmic systems, involving human-like factors such as trust, betrayal and intimacy. This article is significant as it positions music recommender systems as active agents in shaping music listening habits and the individual tastes of users.

User perspectives on critical factors for collaborative playlists.

Today, collaborative playlists (CPs) translate long-standing social practices around music consumption to enable people to curate and listen to music together over streaming platforms. Yet despite the critical role of CPs in digitally connecting people through music, we still understand very little about the needs and desires of real-world users, and how CPs might be designed to best serve them. To bridge this gap in knowledge, we conducted a survey with CP users, collecting open-ended text responses on what aspects of CPs they consider most important and useful, and what they viewed as missing or desired. Using thematic analysis, we derived from these responses the Codebook of Critical CP Factors, which comprises eight categories. We gained insights into which aspects of CPs are particularly useful—for instance, the ability for multiple collaborators to edit a single playlist—and which are absent and desired—such as the ability for collaborators to communicate about a CP or the music contained therein. From these findings we propose design implications to inform further design of CP functionalities and platforms, and highlight potential benefits and challenges related to their adoption in current music services.

Classic and Popular Music Economy Trends and their Contribution on Social Consciousness

The rise of the subscription services usage as one of the main tools of music consumption, vigorously changed the dynamic of the relationship between the major music corporations and music consumers. Our main emphasis is to consider both popular and classical music industries, the future and reality under the circumstances of the emerging subscription services. The economical aspect of the music industry during the latest years come into clarification for both classical and mainstream. The purpose of this study is to reveal the complete ‘circle’ of the process starting from promotion and distribution to the final stage where we discover how the product influences our society in a global scale.

Ekonomi Politik Media Dalam Industri Musik Digital Spotify

Since the emergence of internet media, digital music was born which then marked as a change in the dominance of conventional recorded music. It is slowly and surely replacing the roles of conventional media, starting from the production process, distribution, to the level of music consumption. One of the most prominent music streaming platforms today is Spotify. In practice, the music streaming platform Spotify acts as a cultural industry that seeks to obscure people's real needs. This research uses a qualitative descriptive method based on a critical paradigm. With the aim of analyzing power relations in cultural practices that have been built by the digital music industry, either through the media or by the owners of capital through the perspective of the political economy of communication media. There are 2 main findings as a result of the study. First, there are 5 forms of digital music standardization that emerged because of the Spotify platform. Second, there are 2 forms of culture created from the relationship and identity of digital music actors, namely, the trend of soloist musicians or music by do it yourself, and bargaining power between musicians and music labels. In the end, Spotify is the party who benefits the most because it acts as a mediator who provides services or services for digital music streaming providers.

The Future of Music Copyright Collectives in the Digital Streaming Age

The Future of Music Copyright Collectives in the Digital Streaming Age

Market legitimation in countercultural market change

Drawing on concepts of institutional work, legitimacy, and institutional logics, we investigate why countercultural markets experience institutional change and the actions institutional work market actors perform to inform institutional logics and ensure the legitimacy of countercultural markets. Although previous research suggests market changes and disruption, little attention has been paid to markets that originate from different institutional backgrounds, changes in the market experience in relation to its legitimization, and institutional work to attain legitimacy. The case of indie music in South Korea illustrates the evolution of a cultural market from the introduction of its ethos, the crisis caused by legitimacy pressures, and the transformation of the market. Using data gathered through in-depth interviews with indie labels and music consumers in South Korea, and archival sources, our research illuminates the source of market struggle and theorizes approaches that market actors perform to overcome the struggle.

Context-Aware Music Recommender Systems for Groups: A Comparative Study

Nowadays, recommender systems are present in multiple application domains, such as e-commerce, digital libraries, music streaming services, etc. In the music domain, these systems are especially useful, since users often like to listen to new songs and discover new bands. At the same time, group music consumption has proliferated in this domain, not just physically, as in the past, but virtually in rooms or messaging groups created for specific purposes, such as studying, training, or meeting friends. Single-user recommender systems are no longer valid in this situation, and group recommender systems are needed to recommend music to groups of users, taking into account their individual preferences and the context of the group (when listening to music). In this paper, a group recommender system in the music domain is proposed, and an extensive comparative study is conducted, involving different collaborative filtering algorithms and aggregation methods.

Musical consumption, self-control and smartphone addiction: a dual-systems theory perspective and evidence from a survey study

PurposeIn the past decade, smartphone adoption has reached almost 100% in industrialized countries, which is predominantly due to advancements in capabilities. Given the increasing number of people who are addicted to the smartphone and the significant growth of people who consume music via the smartphone, the purpose of the study is to explore the underlying mechanisms through which musical consumption affects smartphone addiction.Design/methodology/approachBased on dual-systems theory, a research model was developed to determine the impact of System 1 (emotion related to music) and System 2 (self-control) on smartphone addiction. A partial-least-squares approach was used to test the model with 294 survey participants.FindingsThe empirical data confirmed the research model. Regarding System 1, musical emotion positively influenced smartphone addiction through musical consumption and musical response. Moreover, musical preference significantly affected musical response. Regarding System 2, self-control negatively predicted smartphone addiction.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited, as the participants were college students who are not representative of all populations.Originality/valueThe study extends the literature on the dark side of information technology use and complements a research agenda by Gefen and Riedl (2018) on consideration of music in information systems (IS) research.

Plugin Cultures

Plugin Cultures

Review: Music by Numbers: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in the Music Industries, by Richard Osborne and Dave Laing

Review: <i>Music by Numbers: The Use and Abuse of Statistics in the Music Industries</i>, by Richard Osborne and Dave Laing

The Second Death of Concept Albums World-Building and Unification Strategies in the Age of Streaming

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; As the end of the album format is apparently drawing near due to the radical change in music consumption habits motivated by streaming services, artists and genres interested in creating musical works with meanings broader than those of single songs find themselves in a situation worth analysing. Despite all appearances and expectations, I argue that nowadays artists willing to create narrative, thematic or generally conceptual contexts for their songs are living in a potential second golden age of concept albums. Some attempts at keeping the (concept) album alive are more alike to an act of resistance, others creatively take advantage of the same means of communication used by their digital enemy, in order to create something unique and capable of taking the place of the supposedly doomed CD/lP format. They are often transmedial works, thus requiring an interdisciplinary analysis. In this paper, I offer an overview of the contemporary situation of the album format (and concept album more specifically) and finally propose a classification of four forms of contemporary musical world-building strategies, starting from a selection of emblematic case studies.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Internet killed the radio star?

ABSTRACT Radio airplay is still a popular direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel for music products. In this paper, we investigate the effect of radio airplay on album sales, mediated by consumer social media engagement with music artists. Grounded in the cultural production model, as well as the literature on customer engagement and satiation, we propose several hypotheses. We analyze our unique dataset by structural equation modeling (SEM). The results reveal that radio airtime has a bigger impact on album sales of lesser-known musicians than those of famous musicians. Social media engagement mediates the positive effect of radio airplay on album sales; this effect is moderated by the musician’s popularity such that famous musicians enjoy greater social media engagement compared to their lesser-known counterparts. These results have important managerial implications for positioning and channel strategies for lesser-known as well as for already famous musicians. Our findings contribute to the literature on music marketing, social media engagement, and satiation. Surprisingly, this research suggests that the role of radio is not as straightforward as has been described before and the implications for new and seasoned artists in the age of digital music consumption have the potential to change the views of this ‘outdated’ medium.

"This is music!”

This research aimed to understand how elitist thinking takes place regarding music consumption in Brazil. Fifteen music professionals were interviewed, as they were considered individuals with high cultural capital in the subject. The results showed that, although cultural elitism in relation to music is on the way to being softened, it is still very present in Brazilian society, being strongly supported by cultural and social issues. Even if implicitly, a notion of good and bad musical taste can be observed from the (de)valuation of certain musical styles, especially by people professionally involved in the musical world.

Acoustic to Electronic and Public to Private: An Introduction to Music in the Great Expansion (1700–2100 CE)

Acoustic to Electronic and Public to Private: An Introduction to Music in the Great Expansion (1700–2100 CE)