The new issue of the International Journal of Music Business Research includes three papers that cover music streaming psychology, the relevance of aesthetic preferences in record labels and the importance of narrative as a tool in recording artist biographies. “The Psychology of Music Streaming – Exploring Music Listeners’ motivations To Favour Access over Ownership” by Geoff Luck (Finnish Centre for Interdisciplinary Music Research at the University of Jyväskylä) focuses on streaming’s radical impact on the way we now experience music. The change from ownership to on-demand access of a virtually unlimited amount of music challenges previous notions of how music is defined, experienced and consumed. “Aesthetic preferences and aesthetic ‘agnosticism’ among managers in music organisations: is liking projects important?” by Paul Saintilan (Director of Macleay and Collarts colleges in Australia) is pertinent to the predominately ‘pull’ nature of the modern streaming based market. The paper examines how senior managers within the large music organisations deal with their individual aesthetic preferences in their decision making when developing and marketing new work? “Why narratives are better than chronicles of achievement in musicians’ biographies” by Peter Gilks (Entertainment Management department at I-Shou University in Taiwan), is relevant to better understanding modern music consumer behaviour including new music discovery and the reliance of many online music services such as Spotify on recording artist biographies. The paper draws on Simon Frith’s theory that music appreciation involves identification with broader cultural narratives and Bruner’s theory that identities are narratively constructed.
Volume 5, no 2, October 2016
Editorial by Dennis Collopy, pp. 4-5
Music Business Research 
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