The power of nostalgia: Age and preference for popular music

Abstract

Marketers need evidence to help them select music to promote their products. Ethnicity, social class and/or personality type can distinguish individual music tastes, but age and nostalgia may be the largest determinant of all (North, American Journal of Psychology,123, 199–208, 2010). Research into listener preference for music from different eras has found conflicting results. Papers generally agree that it takes an inverse U shape, but disagree on the era for which people are most nostalgic. The seminal paper found a peak for music released when listeners were 23 years of age (Holbrook & Schindler, Journal of Consumer Research,16, 119–124, 1989), a follow-up 9 years of age (Hemming, Musicae Scientiae,17, 293–304, 2013), and 19 years of age (Holbrook & Schindler, Musicae Scientiae,17, 305–308, 2013). This paper attempts to correct the issues raised by Holbrook & Schindler (Musicae Scientiae,17, 305–308, 2013) by improving the representativeness of the sample and introducing a new analysis technique, the two-lines test. This paper finds support for Holbrook & Schindler, but with a slightly younger age peak of roughly 17 years. Additionally, the larger sample allows investigation of differences by generation, which reveals differences that may be caused by their different current age, and so the relationship with, and interplay of nostalgia and music. The central conclusion of the paper is that people do exhibit a preference for music released during their late adolescence/early adulthood. When targeting consumers of a narrow age demographic, music released during this time is more likely to be preferred than any other.

Investigating the ability of music to induce calm in young adults

“…However, it could be argued that the 28 participants were sufficient in number given the repeated measures design. Additionally, the exclusive use of young adults makes comparisons beyond this group fraught, especially as music preference (Davies et al, 2022; Dovorany et al, 2023) and the emotions elicited by music (Groark & Hogan, 2019) are linked to cohort and age.…”

“…Music has been shown to alleviate self-reported anxiety (Harney, Johnson, Bailes & Havelka, 2023), and interest in music peaks between mid-to-late adolescence and the beginnings of adulthood (Davies et al, 2022). Deng et al (2023) report that the prevalence of anxiety in young people is increasing and that the recent COVID-19 pandemic served to elevate anxiety- related symptoms, with their meta-analysis indicating that one-in-three adolescents experienced elevated anxiety.…”

“…There is ongoing debate as to whether there are specific attributes of music that are more potent in regulating state, such as music tempo, the absence or presence of lyrics, and musical key, or whether it is the subjective response an individual has to the music that determines its effectiveness. Prescribed music may be less beneficial than self-selected music as it may not be either familiar or liked by the listener, and classical music, considered the gold standard of anxiolytics (Adiasto et al, 2020), may not be effective with younger people who prefer contemporary rock and pop genres, compared to older adults who prefer more relaxing genres such as classical or jazz (Davies et al, 2022). However, the notion that better outcomes are achieved when individuals self-medicate and select their own music has not been supported in meta-analyses (Harney, Johnson, Bailes & Havelka, 2023), though some studies have reported a significant effect of self- versus researcher-selected music (Juslin et al, 2008).…”

Aging, Nostalgia and Older Punk Women’s Fandom.

“…Nostalgia is something we draw upon in the construction, maintenance and reconstruction of our identities (Davis, 1979cited in Milligan, 2003, Jacobsen 2023) and the relationship between nostalgia, music and aging has been evidenced (e.g., Davies et al, 2022, Grimes, 2020, Jennings and Gardner, 2016. Davis (1979) notes the difficulties in defining nostalgia and how it differs from other subjective states that are orientated to the past (for example, recollection, history…) and suggests that nostalgia is distinct in how we juxtapose it to aspects of our present lives which then imbues it with special qualities.…”

Death by 1000 ‘true fans’: Do marketing laws apply to music listening?

“…However, music listening may not show the expected DoP pattern. Streaming service recommendations, personalised playlists, and album-based listening (Domingues et al, 2013;Ricci et al, 2015;Yapriady & Uitdenbogerd, 2005), let alone personal preferences (Davies et al, 2022), may violate the underlying choice patterns from which the DoP pattern arises in other areas of consumer choice. Most people would assume jazz and hip-hop to have two distinct groups of listeners; we could similarly suggest classical and pirate metal might have two distinct listener groups.…”