Portable Sounds in the Age of Digital Reproduction Toon van Veelen, Jeroen de Kloet, Piet Bakker & Tom ter Bogt Universiteit van Amsterdam

Portable Sounds in the Age of Digital Reproduction

Toon van Veelen, Jeroen de Kloet, Piet Bakker & Tom ter Bogt

Universiteit van Amsterdam

Why researching the iPod?


1. Popularity

2. Forerunner for future developments

3. iPod culture

“I love my iPod, everything about it. The feel, the look, everything. Sometimes (no joke) I will just stare at my iPod (…) and daydream, the beautiful white like the clouds look makes me feel so fuzzy inside.”

iPod cultureiPod parties - iPods around the world - Podcasting



iPod cultuuriPod party’s - iPods around the world - Podcasting


iPod cultuuriPod party’s - iPods around the world - Podcasting

2. Design


Assumption:

.. In particular the Apple iPod, and the related digitization of sound change our listening experiences, feeding into our everyday performances of the authentic self...

Related to

a displacement of authenticity from the CD towards the music player itself..

2. Design


RQ:

How does the iPod affect:

a) patterns of music consumption

b) patterns of music use, and

c) the perception of music carriers?

Comparative research design

3. Sample


On-line Survey, webfora, students

N = 658

Only player of 4Gb or higher, N = 397

iPod: 222 --> 56%

Other: 175 --> 44%

91% male

61% Dutch, 16% American

4a. Music consumption


Percentage of device content from different sources

Regression analysis* shows:

Brand predicts:

P2P (other & age)

Paid (iPod & income)

CD (iPod & stor. cap., age, gender)

*variables: brand, gender, income, storage cap., age

P2P networks Paid services From CD OtheriPod Other iPod Other iPod Other iPod Other

(N=200)(N=162) (N=166)(N=116) (N=205)(N=158) (N=101)(N=81)0% 25% 15 46 85 4 5 41 411 - 20% 31 28 45 11 27 42 46 3921 - 40% 16 12 6 3 15 16 6 841 - 60% 10 13 1 1 15 11 2 661 - 80% 11 15 1 0 17 13 3 281 - 100% 9 16 1 0 22 13 2 3Average (%) 29a 40b 7a 2b 50a 37b 15a 21a

(SD=32)(SD=34) (SD=14) (SD=8) (SD=33)(SD=33) (SD=28)(SD=30)


4a. Music consumption

Open question:

Has the use of your digital audio device changed your music buying/download habits? If so, how?

1. No change: ‘No. Still buy CDs and rip to the computer’ (Indian male, 31)

2. Downloading: ‘Since [getting my iPod], I have been more legally responsible and now use iTunes for all my downloads’ (American male, 32)

3. Downloading and buying CDs: ‘It has made me download more music but at the same time, that downloading has made me buy music which I would not have bought if I had not first downloaded it’ (Dutch male, 23)

4. Buying CDs: ‘I'm buying more CDs, to fill in gaps in my collection’ (American male, 48)

4b. Music use


Average of 2080 tracks (but SD=1603) and 8 genres

The content of my digital audio device reflects the full range of my musical taste

Totally disagree Totally agree

3% 9% 15% 35% 38%

Mode Other iPod

Shuffle 52 60Playlist 25*** 53***Genre 18 17Artist 47 51Year/release 1 2Album 63 60Composer 3 4Song title 14 16

4b. Music use


Open question:

Has the use of your digital audio device changed your listening habits? If so, how?

1. Discorvery of new music: ‘Yes, I am much more prone to listening to bands I haven’t heard before, and make it a point to listen to something new every day’ (American male, 27)

2. Rediscorvery of old music: ‘…I’m rediscovering song from my past that I otherwise might have never played. Most recent rediscovery is The Boomtown Rats "Nothing Happened Today" from 1979 album The Fine Art of Surfacing. Totally took me back to my junior year of high school’ (American male, 44)

3. Shuffle function: ‘Yes. I now find listening to full CDs restrictive. I understand the music differently’ (British male, 46)

4. Portable library: ‘Yes. It provides a one-device solution to my CD collection. I can easily get access to any album I used to love three or five years ago without messing up my CD stack’ (Canadian male, 28)

5. Skipping & mood management: ‘Now I tend to skip songs which don’t match my mood much more often and faster’ (Dutch female, 25)

4c. Perception of music carrier


Table 4: Evaluation of the device on a 7-point semantic scale

Dimension Other (M) iPod (M) t Sig.Unsexy - sexy 4,55 5,65 -7,72 .00Ordinary - extraordinary 5,1 5,48 -2,82 .01Following - leading 5,6 6,06 -3,64 .00Fake - real 5,99 6,17 -1,56 .12Regressive - progressive 5,68 6,01 -3,10 .00Inelegant - elegant 5,22 6,27 -8,47 .00Cheap - expensive 4,98 5,77 -6,16 .00Nonmodern - modern 5,84 6,44 -5,51 .00Styless - stylish 5,38 6,48 -9,29 .00Artificial - natural 4,54 4,8 -1,69 .09Ungracious - gracious 5,01 5,81 -6,35 .00Inferior - superior 5,91 6,15 -2,36 .02Ugly - beautiful 5,36 6,41 -9,69 .00User unfriendly - user friendly 5,81 6,5 -6,62 .00Impractical - practical 5,97 6,45 -5,23 .00Unfashionable - fashionable 5,02 6,26 -10,53 .00

Scales:

1. Aesthetical

2. Distinctivenes

3. Functional

Regression:

iPod

as strongest

predictor

4c. Perception of music carriers


b t Sig. b t Sig.

Brand 0.01 0.1 .92 0.15 3.0 .00Storage capacity 0.02 0.4 .72 0.07 1.4 .16Income -0.07 -1.0 .32 0.04 0.6 .58Age 0.04 0.6 .53 -0.19 -2.8 .01Gender 0.02 0.4 .69 -0.01 -0.2 .86

Dependent: CD authenticity index Dependent: Device authenticity indexRsquared = .252 (adj=.242) Rsquared = .057 (adj=.044)N=397 N=397

5. Conclusion


iPpod owners download less, buy more online

More music and rediscovery of old music

Beyond album-based listening

iPod is perceived as more aesthetic, more functional and more distinctive

iPod is perceived as more authentic

6. Discussion


Authenticity as perpetual desire

Authenticity as embodied value

Authenticity as cultural capital



‘

iPod als “the material embodiment of the values and interests of particular social groups or classes” (Wyatt et al., 2000)

>> thus: authenticity as embodied value (iPod) and performative appropriation (user)



>> thus: authenticity as constitutive element of

cultural capital

iPod as economic capital (status)

iPod as cultural capital (design and authenticity)



Abbas en de déjà disparu:

“the feeling that what is new and unique about the situation is always already gone, and we are left holding a handful of clichés, or a cluster of memories of what has never been.”

>> thus: authenticity as perpetual desire

6. Discussie






Universiteit van Amsterdam

THANK YOU!

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Portable Sounds in the Age of Digital Reproduction Toon van Veelen, Jeroen de Kloet, Piet Bakker & Tom ter Bogt Universiteit van Amsterdam