On Popular Music and Media: Analyzing Changes in Compositional Practices and Music Listening Choice Behavior Using Attention Economy Principles
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On popular music and media: Analyzing changes in compositional practices and music listening choice behavior using attention economy principles Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Hubert Léveillé Gauvin, M.A., B.Mus. Graduate Program in Music The Ohio State University 2018 Dissertation Committee: David Huron, Advisor Eugenia Costa-Giomi Robert Bond c Copyright by Hubert Léveillé Gauvin 2018 Abstract This dissertation investigates popular music compositional practices and music listening choice behavior in studies that attempt to uncover whether technological changes have had an impact on songwriting techniques, and whether music listening choice behavior can be predicted by these compositional devices. The underlying theory unifying this work is the theory of attention economy: how attention can be analyzed using supply and demand principles to explain and predict information content and human behavior. Two corpus studies were conducted to evaluate whether compositional practices in popular music have changed in the last decades in a way that is consistent with the theory of attention economy. The results suggest that, as predicted, composi- tional practices have changed in a way that favors attention-grabbing behavior. The strongest change observed was the near elimination of instrumental introductions between 1986 and 2015. Building on these results, two behavioral experiments were conducted to test whether these changes are effective ways to grab listeners’ attention. In the first experiment, participants were asked to listen to randomly sampled songs in an un- divided attention setting, while in the second experiment, an independent group of participants was asked to listen to a subset of the same songs in a divided attention setting. The results suggest that music listening choice behavior (i.e. how and when a ii listener decides to skip when listening to music) is mediated by the listening context, and that compositional devices, along with musical preferences and familiarity with a song, can predict choice behavior in listeners. iii This dissertation is dedicated to my loving and supportive wife, Vanessa. iv Acknowledgments I would like to thank numerous parties for the help and support with this research project. In no particular order: David Huron, advisor on this project, for constantly giving me generous feedback and comments, and for his invaluable help with the funding process. Eugenia Costa- Giomi, David Clampitt, Johanna Devaney, and Anna Gawboy, for making the OSU School of Music an exciting teaching and research institution. Robert Bond, for his support and help on this project. My office mates and friends, Erin Allen, Claire Arthur, Andrew Brinkman, SongHui Chon, Nat Condit-Schultz, Dana DeVlieger, Niels Ch. Hansen, Kirsten Nisula, David Orvek, Lissa Reed, Lindsey Reymore, An- drea Schiavio, Nicholas Shea, and Caitlyn Trevor. Special thanks to Lindsay War- renburg for her constant help and support. Thanks to CSML alumni Joe Plazak and Paul von Hippel. Thanks to Misti Crane for writing a really awesome press release about my research–what an exciting couple of months that was! I would also like to thank the many members of the OSU community that offered useful ideas and suggestions. v This research project has been made possible in part by the financial support of the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture. Finally, special thanks to my wife Vanessa for the continuous encouragement and support. I could not have done it without you. vi Vita 2012 ........................................B.Mus. Music Theory, McGill University 2015 ........................................M.A.MusicTheory, McGill University 2013-2015 ..................................Graduate Teaching Associate, McGill University 2015-present . .............................Graduate Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University Publications Research Publications Duinker, B. & Léveillé Gauvin, H. (2017). Changing content in flagship music theory journals, 1979–2014. Music Theory Online, 23 (4). Devaney, J., & Léveillé Gauvin, H. (2017). Encoding music performance data in Humdrum and MEI. International Journal on Digital Libraries, Published Online First October 23, 2017. Léveillé Gauvin, H. (2017). Drawing listener attention in popular music: Testing five musical features arising from the theory of attention economy. Musicae Scientiae, Published Online First March 1, 2017. Devaney, J., & Léveillé Gauvin, H. (2016). Representing and linking music perfor- mance data with score information. In B. Fields & K. Page (Eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd International Workshop on Digital Libraries for Musicology (pp. 1-8). New York: ACM ICPS. vii Léveillé Gauvin, H., Huron, D., & Shanahan, D. (2016). On the role of semitone intervals in melodic organization: Yearning vs. baby steps. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (pp. 727-731). San Francisco, CA. Léveillé Gauvin, H. (2016). Changing use of seventh chords: A replication of Mauch et al. (2015). Empirical Musicology Review, 11 (1): 103-107. Léveillé Gauvin, H. (2015). “The times they were a-changin’:” A database-driven ap- proach to the evolution of musical syntax in popular music from the 1960s. Empirical Musicology Review, 10 (3): 215-238. Fields of Study Major Field: Music viii Table of Contents Page Abstract ....................................... ii Dedication ...................................... iv Acknowledgments .................................. v Vita......................................... vii List of Tables .................................... xii List of Figures ................................... xiii 1. Introduction .................................. 1 2. Capturing and Sustaining Attention in the Attention Economy Era . 4 2.1 On what basis is the music entertaining or engaging? ........ 8 2.1.1 Arousal ............................. 8 2.1.2 Predictability .......................... 10 2.2 How is the music structured and what role(s) does this structure serve? 11 2.2.1 AABA and Verse-Chorus Forms ................ 11 2.2.2 Instrumental Introductions .................. 12 2.3 How does the music achieve memorability? .............. 15 2.3.1 Repetition & Memory ..................... 15 2.3.2 Earworms ............................ 17 2.4 How does the use of language contribute to the music’s poetic or emotive appeal? ............................ 19 2.4.1 Self-Focus, Narcissism & Anti-Social Behavior ........ 19 2.4.2 Seriousness & Meaningfulness ................. 20 2.4.3 Sexual Content ......................... 21 ix 2.5 To whom is this music aimed? ..................... 21 2.5.1 Style & Genre ......................... 21 2.5.2 Personality Traits ....................... 24 2.5.3 Tasks & Activities ....................... 25 2.6 How does the music establish its credibility or authority? ...... 26 2.6.1 Guest Appearances ....................... 26 2.6.2 Musical Quotation & Sampling ................ 27 2.7 Concluding Remarks .......................... 27 3. Testing Five Musical Features Arising from the Theory of Attention Economy 31 3.1 Introduction .............................. 31 3.2 Study 1: Practices between 1986 and 2015 .............. 36 3.2.1 Hypotheses ........................... 36 3.2.2 Sample ............................. 39 3.2.3 Method ............................. 39 3.2.4 Results ............................. 40 3.2.5 Discussion ............................ 42 3.3 Study 2: Within-artist comparisons of success ............ 44 3.3.1 Hypotheses ........................... 47 3.3.2 Sample ............................. 48 3.3.3 Results ............................. 49 3.3.4 Discussion ............................ 51 3.4 General Discussion ........................... 51 4. Testing the Influence of Attention Economy Principles, Musical Prefer- ences, and Familiarity on Music Listening Choice Behavior ........ 54 4.1 Introduction .............................. 54 4.2 Hypotheses ............................... 58 4.3 Experiment 1: Undivided Attention Music Listening Setting .... 59 4.3.1 Method ............................. 60 4.3.1.1 Participants ....................... 60 4.3.1.2 Material ......................... 60 4.3.2 Procedure ............................ 61 4.3.3 Results ............................. 62 4.3.4 Discussion ............................ 64 4.4 Experiment 2: Divided Attention Music Listening Setting ..... 68 4.4.1 Method ............................. 69 4.4.1.1 Participants ....................... 69 4.4.1.2 Material ......................... 69 4.4.1.3 Procedure ........................ 70 x 4.4.2 Results ............................. 71 4.4.3 Discussion ............................ 72 4.5 General Discussion ........................... 75 4.6 Conclusion ............................... 78 5. General Summary ............................... 80 5.1 Recapitulation ............................. 80 5.2 Implications for the Music Industry .................. 82 5.3FutureResearch............................ 86 5.4 Conclusion ............................... 87 Appendices 88 A. List of the 303 songs analyzed in the first study (Section 3.2) of Chapter 3 88 B. List of the 120 songs analyzed in the second study (Section 3.3) of Chapter 3 97 C. Visual representation of the participants’ skipping times in both the un- divided and divided attention experimental setting (Chapter 4) superim- posed onto each song’s formal