“Spotifying” new music and mavens on the Web

This paper examines the importance of digital technology in shaping the information retrieval and sharing practices of music. Technological innovations have not only changed how consumers search for and find new music, but also how they describe and discuss that material with other individuals. Besides their social networks, music listeners can now express their personal tastes more profoundly to many other users through Web 2.0 applications such as social networking sites, blogs, and wikis. Using data from surveys, this research aims to increase understanding of whether new technologies are predominate or subordinate to social and institutionalized settings of music exploration and sharing. The results show that audiences are losing interest in traditional media to discover new music, due in part to the growing popularity of digital media. Particular younger cohorts of music listeners and higher educated groups spend much time on using new technology to expand and enrich their musical repertoires. The use of technology is often combined with or followed by social exchanges, as word-of-mouth mechanisms remain to play a considerable role in how music is selected, evaluated and discussed. At the core of this process are opinion leaders or mavens who frequently make and receive personal recommendations in their immediate environments as well as in online communities. The paper concludes by describing the nature of opinion leadership in the realm of music and suggests that future research needs to address factors of age differences, social status, and cultural capital in relation to the discovery and sharing of cultural products.