Pathways to music exploration in a digital age

Abstract

This paper looks at the largely unexplored terrain of how young people find music that is new to them in an environment with an unprecedented number of possibilities. Digital media has changed not only how artists create and distribute content, but also how listeners find and access new material. The new options exist in the context of older traditions such as using one's social networks or traditional media to find content. Based on original data with a sample of college students, we find that while students use digital media to find music new to them, social networks and traditional media continue to play a very important role in the course of exploration. We also find that digital technology is used differently by different types of music consumers and draw distinctions between peer-to-peer services and browsing, with the former more likely to be used by students from higher socio-economic backgrounds who are opinion leaders in the realm of music. We conclude with observations about the nature of opinion leadership and music and argue that future research should examine more closely the links among the discovery and sharing of culture, opinion leadership and social recognition and status. #

Boomers, Millennials, and The Music Experience

“…Technological advances impact culture, and this is something to remember when looking at more recent generations (Holbrook, 2000;Lefsetz, 2014;Tepper & Hargittai, 2009 and when trying to party with others. All while on the other side, we have the other relative half of the portion of this group that listens to music all day (Bahanovich & Collopy, 2009;Gewen, 2008;Tepper & Hargittai, 2009).…”

“…All while on the other side, we have the other relative half of the portion of this group that listens to music all day (Bahanovich & Collopy, 2009;Gewen, 2008;Tepper & Hargittai, 2009). Scholars in this field have yet to integrate a holistic understanding of this population and their music consumption values (Brown, 2008), but there is data on their music consumption behavior.…”

“…However, this product became a novelty and swiftly became accepted. A reason for this outcome is because of the iPod's ability to be a fashion accessory, the device provided a music library, it had download storage, and it facilitated file-sharing capabilities (Brown, 2008;Tepper & Hargittai, 2009). The fact that this device spoke to its consumer's lifestyles, value, and needs is what makes the iPod such a great market success (Brown, 2008;Tepper & Hargittai, 2009).…”

“…As a matter of fact, they pride themselves in having access to an enormous amount of songs in their music libraries (Bahanovich & Collopy, 2009;Christian, 2011;Tepper & Hargittai, 2009). And although Boomers are catching on to the online cultural shift, and Millennials are increasing their CD purchases, Millennials are the persistent users of online platforms to access and share their music files (Bahanovich & Collopy, 2009;Tepper & Hargittai, 2009). In a way, Millennials focus on collecting large quantities of musical track, whereas Boomers value tracks individually.…”

Art at the crossroads: The arts in society and the sociology of art

“…These range from the loss of an aesthetic discourse to the situation in which search algorithms send audiences to music from only their preferred styles. However, in a study of how college students discover new music, Tepper and Hargittai (2009) found that while online resources matter, social networks and traditional media continue to play an important role. In sum, more research is needed before we can draw conclusions about the full impact of new technology on either cultural producers or consumers.…”