Music Consumption: The Impact of Social Networking, Identity Formation, and Group Influence

Consumers have an inherent need to share their favourite music with other consumers, and a democratisation of culture is taking place with consumers effectively replacing traditional tastemakers by sharing music through the... [ view full abstract ]

Consumers have an inherent need to share their favourite music with other consumers, and a democratisation of culture is taking place with consumers effectively replacing traditional tastemakers by sharing music through the Internet; thus shaping culture and in turn themselves (McGuire & Slater, 2005). This theory supports the notion that once music consumers discover others online who have similar or interesting tastes, they begin to interact with one another; therefore leading to the formation of communities around an artist or genre which may also provide benefits to consumers in other areas of their social lives. The motivation of this paper was the exploration of how these online social influences compared to the traditional offline social influences that can be inferred upon music consumption behaviours. A study was conceptualised on behaviours relating to live music consumption, with a literature review being conducted on the exploration of the music industry and its digitisation, identity theory (both individual and collective), and social influence. The research methodology consisted of an online survey, analysed using structural equation modelling, which enabled the development of predictive models for live music consumption behaviours in both the online and offline social contexts.