Music Sharing: The Social Drivers Behind the Phenomenon

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School of Business | Bachelor's thesis
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Date

2020

Department

Mikkelin kampus

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

(Mikkeli) Bachelor’s Program in International Business

Language

en

Pages

49 + 2

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Abstract

Objectives The main objective of this study was to combine electronic word-of-mouth and interaction on social networking sites regarding music. The two concepts have been studied before, but the former not related to music nor the latter from the perspective of consumer-to-consumer. The thesis also aimed to answers the three research questions that were introduced. Summary A literature review was done to examine the motivators for engaging in word-of-mouth behavior on electronic platforms. From what was found, a conceptual framework was created to help examine the trend of music sharing on social networking sites. The research itself was conducted via a qualitative study, in which six people took part in two individual semi-structured interviews and were asked to go through a life event that has happened to them. All of the participants had a history of music sharing on social networking platforms and were more or less still active in that regard. Based on the previous research done on electronic word-of-mouth, it was expected that homophily, the feeling of belonging and perceived relationship with the artist would be the biggest motivational contributors to the sharing. While all of these were met, the social sharing of emotion also seemed to be an important factor for sharing music. Conclusions People view social aspects, such as belonging to a group and perceived relationship with an artist, as important in their sharing habits. Most of the existing literature agrees with the importance of social factors, but some add other motives, such as economic incentives. The inclusion of social sharing of emotion and its secondhand sharing seems to be a driver that is not recognized by other authors, but that seems to be mainly due to the context.

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Thesis advisor

Lehtonen, Miikka J.

Keywords

music sharing, social networking site, social media, word-of-mouth, music industry

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202005103063

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[kand] Kauppakorkeakoulu / BIZ (Open Access)