Music we move to: Spotify audio features and reasons for listening

Previous literature has shown that music preferences (and thus preferred musical features) differ depending on the listening context and reasons for listening (RL). Yet, to our knowledge no research has investigated how features of music that people dance or move to relate to particular RL. Conseque...

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Main Authors: Deniz Duman, Pedro Neto, Anastasios Mavrolampados, Petri Toiviainen, Geoff Luck
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2022-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9522267/?tool=EBI
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author Deniz Duman
Pedro Neto
Anastasios Mavrolampados
Petri Toiviainen
Geoff Luck
author_facet Deniz Duman
Pedro Neto
Anastasios Mavrolampados
Petri Toiviainen
Geoff Luck
author_sort Deniz Duman
collection DOAJ
description Previous literature has shown that music preferences (and thus preferred musical features) differ depending on the listening context and reasons for listening (RL). Yet, to our knowledge no research has investigated how features of music that people dance or move to relate to particular RL. Consequently, in two online surveys, participants (N = 173) were asked to name songs they move to (“dance music”). Additionally, participants (N = 105) from Survey 1 provided RL for their selected songs. To investigate relationships between the two, we first extracted audio features from dance music using the Spotify API and compared those features with a baseline dataset that is considered to represent music in general. Analyses revealed that, compared to the baseline, the dance music dataset had significantly higher levels of energy, danceability, valence, and loudness, and lower speechiness, instrumentalness and acousticness. Second, to identify potential subgroups of dance music, a cluster analysis was performed on its Spotify audio features. Results of this cluster analysis suggested five subgroups of dance music with varying combinations of Spotify audio features: “fast-lyrical”, “sad-instrumental”, “soft-acoustic”, “sad-energy”, and “happy-energy”. Third, a factor analysis revealed three main RL categories: “achieving self-awareness”, “regulation of arousal and mood”, and “expression of social relatedness”. Finally, we identified variations in people’s RL ratings for each subgroup of dance music. This suggests that certain characteristics of dance music are more suitable for listeners’ particular RL, which shape their music preferences. Importantly, the highest-rated RL items for dance music belonged to the “regulation of mood and arousal” category. This might be interpreted as the main function of dance music. We hope that future research will elaborate on connections between musical qualities of dance music and particular music listening functions.
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spelling doaj.art-8b481a0c177242a0b81cdc315d8725942022-12-22T04:32:10ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01179Music we move to: Spotify audio features and reasons for listeningDeniz DumanPedro NetoAnastasios MavrolampadosPetri ToiviainenGeoff LuckPrevious literature has shown that music preferences (and thus preferred musical features) differ depending on the listening context and reasons for listening (RL). Yet, to our knowledge no research has investigated how features of music that people dance or move to relate to particular RL. Consequently, in two online surveys, participants (N = 173) were asked to name songs they move to (“dance music”). Additionally, participants (N = 105) from Survey 1 provided RL for their selected songs. To investigate relationships between the two, we first extracted audio features from dance music using the Spotify API and compared those features with a baseline dataset that is considered to represent music in general. Analyses revealed that, compared to the baseline, the dance music dataset had significantly higher levels of energy, danceability, valence, and loudness, and lower speechiness, instrumentalness and acousticness. Second, to identify potential subgroups of dance music, a cluster analysis was performed on its Spotify audio features. Results of this cluster analysis suggested five subgroups of dance music with varying combinations of Spotify audio features: “fast-lyrical”, “sad-instrumental”, “soft-acoustic”, “sad-energy”, and “happy-energy”. Third, a factor analysis revealed three main RL categories: “achieving self-awareness”, “regulation of arousal and mood”, and “expression of social relatedness”. Finally, we identified variations in people’s RL ratings for each subgroup of dance music. This suggests that certain characteristics of dance music are more suitable for listeners’ particular RL, which shape their music preferences. Importantly, the highest-rated RL items for dance music belonged to the “regulation of mood and arousal” category. This might be interpreted as the main function of dance music. We hope that future research will elaborate on connections between musical qualities of dance music and particular music listening functions.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9522267/?tool=EBI
spellingShingle Deniz Duman
Pedro Neto
Anastasios Mavrolampados
Petri Toiviainen
Geoff Luck
Music we move to: Spotify audio features and reasons for listening
PLoS ONE
title Music we move to: Spotify audio features and reasons for listening
title_full Music we move to: Spotify audio features and reasons for listening
title_fullStr Music we move to: Spotify audio features and reasons for listening
title_full_unstemmed Music we move to: Spotify audio features and reasons for listening
title_short Music we move to: Spotify audio features and reasons for listening
title_sort music we move to spotify audio features and reasons for listening
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9522267/?tool=EBI
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