Corona Concerts: The Effect of Virtual Concert Characteristics on Social Connection and Kama Muta

Abstract

The popularity of virtual concerts increased as a result of the social distancing requirements of the coronavirus pandemic. We aimed to examine how the characteristics of virtual concerts and the characteristics of the participants influenced their experiences of social connection and kama muta (often labeled “being moved”). We hypothesized that concert liveness and the salience of the coronavirus would influence social connection and kama muta. We collected survey responses on a variety of concert and personal characteristics from 307 participants from 13 countries across 4 continents. We operationalized social connection as a combination of feelings and behaviors and kama muta was measured using the short kama muta scale (Zickfeld et al., 2019). We found that (1) social connection and kama muta were related and predicted by empathic concern, (2) live concerts produced more social connection, but not kama muta, than pre-recorded concerts, and (3) the salience of the coronavirus during concerts predicted kama muta and this effect was completely mediated by social connection. Exploratory analyses also examined the influence of social and physical presence, motivations for concert attendance, and predictors of donations. This research contributes to the understanding of how people can connect socially and emotionally in virtual environments.

Music for hedonia and eudaimonia during pandemic social isolation

“…Felt connectedness with the artist during live-streamed concerts, however, correlated positively with pandemic-induced stress and could be enhanced by wearing virtual reality headsets (Onderdijk et al, 2021b). Social connection was rated higher when virtual concerts were live-streamed in real-time rather than played back afterwards (Swarbrick et al, 2021). Mas-Herrero et al (2020) found that individual reward sensitivity (which can be thought of as hedonic susceptibility) fully mediated the negative association between music activities during lockdown and pandemic depression.…”

“…Musical lockdown activities took various forms from live-streamed concerts (Swarbrick et al, 2021), splitscreen recordings (Hansen et al, 2021), daily rituals of balcony singing and clapping for healthcare workers (Imber-Black, 2020) to virtual raves (Palamar & Acosta, 2020) and listening parties (Lee & Kao, 2020). Amateurs and professionals took part as creators and consumers alike via new tele-conferencing and video-editing technologies and well-known social media platforms.…”

Afterword: Coping through crisis with coronamusic

“…Communal singing may indeed have provided a non-religious form of collective ritualised behaviour which was suitable for replacing ceased ritualschurch ceremonies, concerts, and sports games alike-in an increasingly secular world (Sørensen et al 2021). Notably, the fact that this resurgence towards flow TV and livestreamed concerts occurred during a period when streaming platforms were otherwise winning over market shares suggests that the contemporaneity that live transmission offers in comparison to taped formats may have increased its overall coping potential (Sørensen et al 2021), possibly through enhancing social connection (Swarbrick et al 2021).…”

“…Typical technological solutions adopted by musicians involved different degrees of simultaneity between performers and audience (e.g., Onderdijk et al 2021;Swarbrick et al 2021). For example, virtual concerts that were live-streamed could typically be played back afterwards.…”

“…While availability and skills largely determined adopted solutions, research reveals intriguing relationships between technology and coping potential. Specifically, social connection was felt more strongly by those affected by pandemic-induced stress and could be enhanced by wearing virtual-reality headsets or by streaming live (Onderdijk et al 2021;Swarbrick et al 2021).…”