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Measuring peer influence in social networks is an important business and policy question that has become increasingly salient with the development of globally interconnected information and communication technology networks. However, in spite of the new data sources available today, researchers still face many of the same measurement challenges that have been present in the literature for over four decades: homophily, reflection and selection problems, identifying the source of influence, and determining preexisting knowledge. The goal of this paper is to develop an empirical approach for measuring information diffusion and discovery in online social networks that have these measurement challenges. We develop such an approach and apply it to data collected from 4,000 users of an online music community. We show that peers on such networks significantly increase music discovery. Moreover, we demonstrate how future research can use this method to measure information discovery and diffusion using data from other online social networks.

For industries ranging from software to pharmaceuticals and entertainment, there is an intense debate about the appropriate level of protection for intellectual property. The Internet provides a natural crucible to assess the implications of reduced protection because it drastically lowers the cost of copying information. In this paper, we analyze whether file sharing has reduced the legal sales of music. While this question is receiving considerable attention in academia, industry, and Congress, we are the first to study the phenomenon employing data on actual downloads of music files. We match an extensive sample of downloads to U.S. sales data for a large number of albums. To establish causality, we instrument for downloads using data on international school holidays. Downloads have an effect on sales that is statistically indistinguishable from zero. Our estimates are inconsistent with claims that file sharing is the primary reason for the decline in music sales during our study period.

A large-scale study is reported whose purpose was to elucidate the historical development of the European major and minor modes. The study involved 455 musical works by 259 composers sampled across the years 1400 to 1750. Beginning with the period 1700-1750, a series of statistical studies was carried out on the distribution of scale tones, progressively moving backward in time. The method utilized a modified method of key determination – generalized to handle an arbitrary number of modal classifications. The results from cluster analyses on this data are consistent with the view that the modern major and minor modes have changed over time and were preceded by a system in which there were more than just two modes.

We describe some characteristics of persistentmusical and verbal retrieval episodes, commonly known as \"earworms.\" In Study 1, participants first filled out a survey summarizing their earworm experiences retrospectively. This was followed by a diary study to document each experience as it happened. Study 2 was an extension of the diary study with a larger sample and a focus on triggering events. Consistent with popular belief, these persistent musical memories were common across people and occurred frequently for most respondents, and were often linked to recent exposure to preferred music. Contrary to popular belief, the large majority of such experiences were not unpleasant. Verbal earworms were uncommon. These memory experiences provide an interesting example of extended memory retrieval for music in a naturalistic situation.

This paper measures the effect of Napster on record sales. I treat the introduction of Napster as a technological event that only Internet users experienced, and use a difference-in-differences (DD) approach. Because of potential compositional changes in Internet users, I examine identifying assumptions for the DD estimator under compositional changes and develop a test for identifying restrictions. To address potential bias due to compositional changes, I extend DD matching estimators to the case of two-variate propensity scores. I find evidence suggesting that file sharing is likely to explain 20% of total sales decline, which is driven by households with children aged 6—17.

While some recent technological changes reduced revenue for digital products, other changes reduced the costs of bringing creative works to market. Therefore, we do not know whether copyright protection now provides weaker incentives to bring forth new products. This paper assesses the quality of new recorded music since Napster was established in 1999. First, I create an index of high-quality music from critics’ retrospective lists. Next, I rely on music sales and airplay data, using the idea that if one vintage’s music is better than another’s, its superior quality should generate higher sales or greater airplay through time, after accounting for depreciation. I find no evidence of a reduction in the quality of music released since 1999, and the two usage-based indices suggest an increase since then. Researchers and policy makers thinking about the strength of copyright protection should supplement their attention to producer surplus with concern for consumer surplus.

The measurement of everyday music use remains a challenge for researchers, with many of the available methodologies limited by intrusiveness or lack of ecological validity. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) addresses such limitations by assessing current subjective experience at various times throughout participants’ everyday functioning. The aim of the current project was to develop and trial a mobile ESM (m-ESM) capable of collecting event-related data during natural listening episodes. This methodology was designed to maintain a natural and familiar listening experience for participants, and to collect real-time data on personal music listening. An application (app) was created which utilized mobile-device technology, and allowed combination of experience sampling with a personal music player. Analyses were performed on trial data from 101 participants to determine the efficacy of the m-ESM. Results indicated that this methodology would maintain ecological validity and cause minimal intrusion into everyday activities of the listener. Questionnaires were answered immediately at the time of listening, minimizing the problem of retrospective recall biases. This innovative methodology allows for the collection of a wealth of listening data that will advance the accurate measurement of everyday, personal music listening.

This article explores human rhythmic abilities and behaviors within a framework of evolutionary theory highlighting the need for research in this area to be grounded upon solid psychologically valid definitions ofrhythm. A wide-ranging cross-species comparison of rhythmic or quasi-rhythmic behaviors is presented with a view to exploring possible homologies and homoplasies to rhythm in human music. Sustained musical pulse and period correction mechanisms are put forward as human-specific and music-specific traits. Finally hypotheses as to why these abilities may have been selected for—and uniquely selected for—in the course of human evolution are explored.

In this article, I ask how firms negotiate dissonance between industry trends and day-to-day market realities. By utilizing the independent record store as a case of an intermediary firm negotiating rapid industry change, I analyze their contributions to those understandings that reinforce their relevance within the market. Through an analysis of industry and news media, I compare the symbolic work of these firms before and after drastic technological innovation and document changes in the way they discuss their field. I find surviving firms offer new interpretations of their social position that both preserve many traditional aesthetics while selectively presenting new perspectives on contemporary music culture. I introduce the concept of curating value to embrace this multidimensional effect of symbolic work and extend economic sociology research on the intersection of cultural meaning and market change. I argue that the successful market positioning of independent record stores hinges upon dynamic use of symbolic criteria that, in turn, can produce new material value within a new market composition.

Historical trends in the rhythm of Western European instrumental classical music between ∼1650 and 1950 have recently been studied using the nPVI equation. This equation measures the average degree of durational contrast between adjacent events in a sequence (such as notes in a musical theme). These historical studies (e.g., Daniele & Patel, 2013, Hansen et al., in press) have relied on assigning each composer’s music a mean nPVI value in order to search for broad historical trends across composers. Here we address how mean nPVI might vary across different compositional periods within a composer’s lifetime, focusing on four famous composers whose lives have been demarcated into different epochs by historical musicologists, and who were part of Daniele and Patel’s original study: J. S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms. For these composers, we find that the mean nPVI does not vary dramatically across compositional periods. Nevertheless, there are interesting trends within the lifetime of each composer which reflect the larger ‘rising nPVI’ trend seen across all Austro-German composers studied by Daniele and Patel (2013). These findings demonstrate the utility of studying historical patterns in musical rhythm at two distinct timescales: within the lifetimes of individual composers, and across composers from divergent musical eras.