Streaming Tastes: Music Streaming Platforms, Genre Tastes, and Personal Characteristics

Abstract

The structured relationship between class and culture is not easy to explain in the contemporary United States society. Today, new forms of art, music, and entertainment are mass-produced and accessible to virtually anyone, with little to no requirements. One of the most contributing forces behind this trend, and a defining component of the digital age we live in, is the music streaming platform. This study focuses on the users of these streaming platforms in hopes of discovering its classifying nature, as well as gain an understanding for how this form of cultural consumption effects the tastes of its users. The results show that platform users have a more diversified taste for musical genres than their non-user counterparts. In addition, a strong correlation is discovered between platform users and high levels of educational attainment, showing that the use of streaming platforms is a marker of cultural capital.