Music Consumption

The idea of music consumption as primarily social and cultural raises a host of ideals persuading the debate on the economy of digital music. Throughout the discussion, social and cultural activities differentiate immensely towards the economic activity, which is more so vested within the interest of generating money while social activity is constructed around consumption as means of expressing ones’ identity. Nevertheless it is essential to “remember that social and cultural factors complicate any economic analysis of music[1]” and more so of music consumption. The social and cultural activity is subjected around consumption as means of identity and securing a place within the social order. In response to the current debates on the economy of digital music, this social and cultural activity allows the economy of digital music to take a stance on the very aesthetic of music. The act of consumption can be viewed as “the creative activities through which individuals and groups make sense of or ‘decode’ these meanings[2]”. However the influences of pirating and downloading have bruised the physicality of consumption, in that people download the files without generating any profit whatsoever. Nevertheless social cultural activities help to inform the economy of digital music, in a way that defines the social identity of one self and on the other, the reality of the influence of technology.

[1] L. Goode, and N. Zuberi, Media Studies in Aotearoa/New Zealand, Pearson Education New Zealand Limited 2004. P.215.
[2] M. Lister, J. Dovey, S. Giddings, I. Grant, K. Kelly, New Media: A Critical Introduction, Routledge 2003. P.230.