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On popular music and media: Analyzing changes in compositional practices and music listening choice behavior using attention economy principles

Léveillé Gauvin, Hubert, Gauvin
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8525-4058
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1523284232353463

Abstract Details

2018, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Music.
This dissertation investigates popular music compositional practices and music listening choice behavior in studies that attempt to uncover whether technological changes have had an impact on songwriting techniques, and whether music listening choice behavior can be predicted by these compositional devices. The underlying theory unifying this work is the theory of attention economy: how attention can be analyzed using supply and demand principles to explain and predict information content and human behavior. Two corpus studies were conducted to evaluate whether compositional practices in popular music have changed in the last decades in a way that is consistent with the theory of attention economy. The results suggest that, as predicted, compositional practices have changed in a way that favors attention-grabbing behavior. The strongest change observed was the near elimination of instrumental introductions between 1986 and 2015. Building on these results, two behavioral experiments were conducted to test whether these changes are effective ways to grab listeners’ attention. In the first experiment, participants were asked to listen to randomly sampled songs in an undivided attention setting, while in the second experiment, an independent group of participants was asked to listen to a subset of the same songs in a divided attention setting. The results suggest that music listening choice behavior (i.e. how and when a listener decides to skip when listening to music) is mediated by the listening context, and that compositional devices, along with musical preferences and familiarity with a song, can predict choice behavior in listeners.
David Huron (Advisor)
147 p.
Music
popular music; attention economy; online streaming; choice behavior

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Léveillé Gauvin, Gauvin, H. (2018). On popular music and media: Analyzing changes in compositional practices and music listening choice behavior using attention economy principles [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1523284232353463

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Léveillé Gauvin, Gauvin, Hubert. On popular music and media: Analyzing changes in compositional practices and music listening choice behavior using attention economy principles. 2018. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1523284232353463.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Léveillé Gauvin, Gauvin, Hubert. "On popular music and media: Analyzing changes in compositional practices and music listening choice behavior using attention economy principles." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1523284232353463

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1523284232353463
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.