Music streaming services and their networks
The music-streaming service Spotify is more than just that: its numerous social features have revolutionized how we share music among our social networks. Spotify users can follow each other—without having to follow their followers back—share music through SMS, email, Facebook, and Twitter, and embed playlists on websites. Based on users’ following lists, they can view what their friends are currently listening to and click on their profiles to see their public playlists and recently played artists. All of these features allow for greater exploration of music as well as the creation of “connections” between different Spotify users.
Because users are aware that their listening activity is being watched, they may change their behavior, consciously trying to alter the impressions they give off in order to control how they are perceived. People’s sense of self is manipulated by their interactions with others, and although the music one listens to is supposed to be deeply personal and self-reflective, due to setup of the application and the vast network that accompanies it, Spotify users’ activities are unknowingly dictated by the social activity of their followers. This is not necessarily a bad thing; due to Spotify’s emphasis on social networks, people are more likely to share music, and consequently, are likely to discover more music. Sharing music has always been socially significant; before the digital age, music was shared either in-person or though older technology, such as mix-tapes. Spotify allows for much easier sharing, which makes us wonder whether these streaming services and technological networks are actually increasing the scope of whom we share music with.
Hagen writes, “Whereas globalization and the advent of networked technologies expand access to people and ideas worldwide, structural patterns of interaction are not dissolving into a homogenous global culture; online as well as offline there is ‘a strong tendency of people to self-organize into culturally defined groups.” With regard to this, it is not necessarily Spotify that brings those with similar music taste together but rather other social media platforms such as TikTok or Instagram, which even allows users to add Spotify song “stickers” to their stories. These networks let people interact with each other verbally (through comments and instant messages) and exchange information (in this case, music). Spotify’s role comes in after these relationships between people with similar tastes have been established; they can then follow each other and easily share music via Spotify links.
Having similar tastes in music is one way to strengthen ties with someone, and Hagen argues that another effective way to build a strong tie is to have dedication to or knowledge of music. Either way, having someone to recommend music and listen to one’s recommendations is a way to bond and build trust between friends.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1354856516673298