Dealing With Playlist Anxiety

from the what-does-your-music-say-about-you? dept

It's been a few years since the concept of playlist anxiety was first discussed. With the ease of sharing playlists via iTunes or other music software, it appears that some listeners freak out over what others might think of their music-listening tastes, and some even change what they listen to in such environments to protect how others might view them. Apparently, that concept is interesting enough that some researchers are doing a study of how playlist anxiety impacts people in an office environment. The study is pretty simple, so far, and only looked at a very small group of people, but it is an interesting subject. It appears that at least some people do change their listening habits out of fear of what others might think, and it seems likely that some have crafted different "public" and "private" playlists to protect their own egos from being slammed for listening to too much Britney Spears. The research also found that people generally aren't that interested in browsing through other's playlists, but will take a recommendation from someone and go searching to hear that particular artist or song. It seems that random browsing is too hit or miss to be worthwhile. Either way, the various download music stores might find such data useful in figuring out what kinds of things to promote. It also raises interesting questions about the whole issue of "the long tail." Will people shy away from certain niche artists for fear of being considered outside of the norm? Or is that canceled out by listening to niche artists to prove that you're independent and cool when it comes to music?