streaming social: facebook, spotify and the construction of identity in cyberspace

8/9/2019 Streaming Social: Facebook, Spotify and the Construction of Identity in Cyberspace

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ability of consumers to build up a fixed collection of cultural symbols also poses challenges for certain

accepted models of identity construction.

+ parallel revolution to that of digital music has been the rise of social networking. !hrough the early

years of Friends $eunited, ebo, My-pace to the now ubi*uitous Facebook and !witter, social networking

has become a feature of the daily lives of hundreds of millions of people across the world. With all of

these new opportunities for communication, a degree of reexamination of theories of identity

construction is re*uired.

!his dissertation aims to take existing ideas about identity, consumption, and music, and test them against

two of the most prominent services of the digital age# Facebook and -potify. Facebook is the most

prominent social network on the planet, with ).&/ billion users of the service worldwide at the last count.

-potify is one of the most popular music streaming services, with )0 million users in +ugust %&)%, 1

million of whom subscribe to the premium, advertisingfree service.

!hese services are of interest because of their prominence and because of the way in which they interact.

-potify gives users the option to share their listening habits on their Facebook timeline, creating an online,

searchable archive holding a record not of music ownership, but music consumption.

!his fact alone has huge implications for notions of identity construction, no longer is the consumption of

music tied to an individual transaction, and beyond the monthly fee to access the service, users are able to

consume virtually any piece of recorded music they like, as many times as they wish. Music and identity

have the opportunity to come closer together than has ever been possible, or be separated completely.


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Chapter " # $he Story So Far

+ny exploration of music and identity must begin with an examination of identity as a concept, and the

way in which our understanding of it has evolved. Whilst many different theories exist on the nature of

identity and its construction, the path that will be followed here is the theory of identity construction

through consumption as this can be the most easily linked to music.

In the )20&s 3rikson4s writings on identity outlined several proposed stages in the psychosocial

development of humans.53rikson argues that humans go through these stages of development, facing a

degree of conflict in each one. Whether or not this conflict is successfully resolved or not dictates the level

of security that we feel in later life.

!he fifth stage in 3rikson4s theory of development occurs in adolescence and young adulthood, and

describes the conflict between identity and confusion.1In this stage young adults try to build up a sense of

who they are, and a failure to do so leads to confusion and uncertainty in later life with regards to

direction in life and a strong sense of self.

-ince then, scholars have generally agreed that identity is something that is, at least to a certain extent,

constructed rather than something that we are born with0.!he increased liberation and breaking down of

social groupings and roles based on the nature of a person4s birth/have led to what scholars have termed

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6the era of the empty self47in which people are born into society, with a blank canvas upon which to

construct their identity.

"ebate exists however as to the means which people use to create their own identity, and the extent to

which people rely on the influences of others in the choices that they make.89ne widely circulated theory

is that of identity construction through consumption, that is, that the products we buy and use, enable us to

construct an identity for ourselves and for others to see.2!his is particularly popular amongst writers in

marketing theory :ournals.)&+ broader version of this notion is explored by academics in other disciplines,

particularly within psychology and the social sciences.

urrent popular academic opinion favours the assertion that our identities are not single, complex

amorphous constructs that are permanently bearing down on our actions and lives. urrent theory

advocates the notion of multiple, overlapping identities, that can be independently utilised, maintained and

brought to bear on our lives and our social interactions.))!he idea is one that has been supported by recent

government commissioned study on what the notion of identity means and will mean in the ;< over the

next )& years. !he idea that one person can have multiple identities, for example a 1& year old man could

consider himself a father and a bread winner as well as other identities relating to his personal life and his

hobbies.

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y breaking down the concept of identity into smaller, more manageable units makes it easier to

understand how separate aspects of identity may be constructed, allowing us to move towards at least a

part codification of the ways in which people 6make up= their identities. !he multiple identity theory also

allows for different, sometimes conflicting identities to be created by a single person, with each one rising

in importance at different times throughout a person4s life.

Following on from the notion of multifactor identities, we have the idea of 6possible selves=)%, the theory

is that each of us creates a mental image of who we are, our own 6selfconcept= and who we could

become in the future. >ossible selves could be more successful, attractive, popular, have achieved a

certain promotion, have a certain number of children, be living a certain lifestyle, or any other

combination of traits that make the possible self something to aspire towards.

9n the other hand, a possible self could be a failure, someone who is dependent on alcohol or drugs,

infertile or unwell, and is a self that we feel must be avoided. >ossible selves can change in relation to the

way we see ourselves, the way we view people around us, such as colleagues, family or friends, and the

difference between our perceived selves and possible selves has been suggested as being the source of our

self esteem.)5

9n something of a tangent, it is worth noting at this point whether construction of identity through

consumption of products is a positive thing or not. 9ther options that have been put forth as means of

identity construction have been through one4s actions rather than one4s possessions. Marx has argued

against consumerism as a path to happiness, because it encourages 6commodity fetishism=)1

and

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entrusting our happiness in something as temporary as material goods could be considered a dangerous

practice. "irectly speaking about identity, Fromm asks the *uestion, 6If I am what I have, and what I have

is lost, who then am I?=, something which elk refers to when describing the feelings of people whose

possessions have be lost or stolen.

!here is also some debate about the scope of possibilities for identity construction through these means,

this boils down to the level of free choice we as consumers actually have. -tudies of cultural industries

specifically have shown that the level of choice available to consumers to be strongly mediated)0by

different levels of cultural organisations. !his gives rise to *uestions of whether or not the possibilities for

identity construction through consumption are truly unlimited)/, and whether, limited or not, the enormous

spectrum of consumable symbols offers us a plethora of possibilities, or paralyses us with too much

choice.)7

$eturning to the sub:ect of consumption, there is some debate on what consumption of any product

actually involves, as well as why a person might choose one product over another. atherine >hillips

suggests that people may actually choose products more for their value in constructing an identity, rather

than for their utilitarian value.)8(ooking back to ova4s concept of 6linking value= )2, one might be

inclined to agree that what a product says about the purchaser is more important than the product itself.

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In reality, the choice to purchase a product is probably a combination of many factors, of which identity

construction and utility value are but two. What I would like to suggest draw4s upon "e 'ora4s concept of

6emotional work=%&. I would suggest that the need to construct an identity for ourselves, is one that

persists throughout life, in line with 3rikson4s writings on development, and that identity construction

could be considered a part of a product4s utility value, because of the level of benefit gained through doing

the 6emotional work= of maintaining and building our sense of who we are.

onsumption of products is a widely studied field, especially amongst marketing theorists, but when

dealing with issues of identity, the purchasing and consuming of consumer products can only take us so

far. +s previously mentioned, the definition of consumption needs to be broadened in order to better

describe the way in which we construct identity. onsumption is an inherently social act, and some

scholars have argued that we consume primarily to facilitate social interactions%).+s such, we must

acknowledge that all consumption is situated within a cultural context.

From here it is not a large leap of logic to accept -widler4s notion of a 6cultural toolkit=%%an array of

symbols that together can be considered to make up the culture of a particular group of people through

their associated meanings, however different these meanings might be to different people. Whilst

-widler4s writing primarily concerns cultural studies, it is useful as a :umping off point for considering an

expanded definition of consumption.

y considering consumption as the process of interaction with the 6cultural toolkit=, whether by buying a

new pair of trainers, a new car or a new hoover, or by listening to a certain type of music, or artist, or by

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visiting a landmark, we can understand the specific ways in which we consume cultural symbols for their

linking value, and appropriate associated meanings into our identities.

'ow is a good time to introduce elk4s ideas on identity and the self, specifically his work on what he

terms the 6extended self=%5,the idea that our self concept is not only composed of our bodies and our

personalities, but also of the ob:ects we own, interact with and create. elk sets out a series of ways in

which the self can be extended through interaction with ob:ects. !he different methods and means are

many fold, and too complex to outline here, but the key ways in which the self can be extended is through

being, doing, having and knowing%1.y these means, a person can extend themselves through other

ob:ects, places, people and relationships.

!he idea of the extended self fits in to the identity construction theory because it provides a framework for

the incorporation of any symbolic ob:ect, not :ust on the basis of the moment of consumption, but taking

into account our relationships with a product, or a symbol. It also argues against the codification of

specific items to specific meanings and that identity construction and pro:ection are two different

constructs. When we incorporate an item into our extended self, we incorporate a certain amount of its

meaning into ourselves, an outside observer can look at our interaction with the item, and based on

whether the item or the person is known better, infer the meaning of one onto the other.%0!he significance

of this allowance will become clearer later in this discussion, when we turn our focus specifically towards

music.

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can never be overlooked. !his is a highly relevant reminder for this dissertation, and we will come back to

contexts of socialisation in a later chapter when we deal with the rise of social networking online.

With the staggering levels of consumable symbols available to us, there comes a few caveats, authors on

the sub:ect are *uick to warn that, whilst identity can be constructed through consumption, we should

avoid efforts to codify the effects of different symbols on different identities.5&!his post modern approach

takes into account the fact that whilst on the surface certain ob:ects might relate to certain identities for

specific reasons, there are a multitude of other factors at play in any instance of consumption, as such, we

can never be completely sure what a person means to do with their identity by consuming a certain

product.

onsumption as a practice has many forms, but in directing our focus towards the consumption of media,

we must touch on the practice of collecting, which in itself can be considered a form of consumption,

albeit one slightly extracted from the intended purpose of the media being consumed. Walter en:amin4s

writings on his own collecting practice give a useful insight into the mindset of a collector,5)and he

reflects at length on the driving force behind his collecting practice, and what his collection @of books in

this case rather than recorded musicA means to him.

!he key aspect of collecting that is of interest here is the building up of an archive, that contains a set of

keys to the collectors memories. +s a collection builds, we associate the items collected, not only with

their ob:ective meaning in the collection, or their content, but also with our identity at the time of entry

into the collection. + person might purchase a set of new books when moving into a new house, and

through browsing the collection years later, may recall their sense of self at the time of purchase.

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!he notion of an archive of a persons life story, the history of who they have been, comes up in several

texts relating to identity over the course of a persons life.5%3xistential crises are an inevitable part of

human life, in a world that has been trained to *uestion everything and take nothing for granted. !his

basic insecurity about the significance of our own existence, and a desire for some form of continuity after

death leads to a desire to know we have existed at all. !he idea that a part of our self concept is a sense of

who we have been, the knowledge that we have lived, existed and made our mark on the universe is one

that I feel is worthy of closer examination.

!he need to carve out an identity generates other dilemmas, and studies have looked to codify the extent

to which we attempt to fit in with our social peer groups55, and the means with which we attempt to set

ourselves apart.51!he short answer is that all people are different in their need for uni*ueness, and this

must be acknowledged in any study of identity construction, an irritatingly unstructurable answer for

some, but reassurance for others that humans can not be so simply understood and predicted.

Moving on to media consumption, the true focus of this work, we find the most readily available writings

on the sub:ect of media use and identity focus on adolescents, which fits in with 3rikson4s outline for

psychosocial development.50(arson4s study of private media use by adolescents reveals some key insights

into identity construction in young people, notably that private music consumption enables young people

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to explore different possible identities, as part of the process of *uestioning identities handed down to

them by their parents.5/

+ key point is that emotional stability in adolescents seems to be linked, at least in part to identity

security, it has been argued that different possible selves and identities have associated emotions that go

along with them57,so it makes sense that emotional response to music can be useful in the exploration of

different possible identities. !his is backed up by the complementary observation that identity security is a

huge source of anxiety for young people.58

(arson has also argued that music as a whole is something relevant to adolescents, because it is generally

aimed at more specific demographics, teens listen to music aimed at teens and therefore relate well to it.52

(arson also reminds us to avoid :udging the effects of music on identity construction based on the overt

messages of the music, that it is the individuals response to the music, rather than the music itself that

helps in the construction of identity.1&

!he fact that we cannot ob:ectively codify music4s effect on identity has led to academics advocating the

study of individual narratives of consumption in order to understand the relationship between music

consumption and identity construction.1)It is here that we can tie together several of the elements of

consumption discussed earlier, notably those of collecting, and the building of a personal archive. Music

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collections are something that are generally retained over the course of a lifetime, for a multitude of

reasons1%but for this reason, the analysis of personal record collections can yield detailed narratives of a

person4s life, and the ways in which their identity has evolved.15

In the context of adolescent identity construction, authors have noted that identification with a subculture,

is one of the easiest ways in which a person can create and support a sense of their own identity.11ecause

of its proliferation throughout our society, music makes for an ideal shared consumption symbol around

which to build a subcultural community.10

+ll of this information is reinforced by -hankar et. al. who show that music plays a huge role in identity

construction, emotional security, social interaction, peer group association, demarcation of uni*ueness

amongst young people, all filtered through narratives of socialisation and catalogued in a retained archive

of cultural artefacts, that can be used as keys to unlock narratives of who we have been throughout our

lives.1/

!he final element of identity construction is identity pro:ection to others. In order to acheive this, the

personal archive of the record collection can be put on public display for others to see.17From here, others

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can view the collection, using their own knowledge of the sub:ect matter and the owner of the collection

to infer associated meanings on either the collection or the collector.18

"rawing all of the theories of identity construction together, I would like to put forward the following

loose model for identity construction through music consumptionB

C Music is one of a multitude of cultural symbols that can be drawn upon @consumedA, by people throughout

their lives12.

C y purchasing a ", (> or tape, a person incorporates new meaning into their own self concept,

extending the self through the act of consumption.0&!hrough private media use, a person is able to

experiment with different possible identities, using their emotional response to different musics0)to

explore possible selves.0%

C $egardless of the effect it has on identity, the music accumulated over the course of a lifetime serves as a

personal archive of a person4s identity pro:ect which can be explored in order to satisfy a need to feel as

though one has existed, and been someone over the course of this existence.

C !hrough the display of physical manifestations of music consumption, in the form of records on a shelf, a

person is then able to publicly associate themselves with a set of cultural symbols in an attempt to pro:ect

a sense of who they are.05

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C 9ther people are then able to view this collection, and build a picture of the owner4s identity based on

their own inferred meanings of these cultural symbols.01

From this proposed model of identity construction, we can see that the music collection, the archive of a

person4s consumption is the key to the relationship between music consumption and identity. !he

following chapters will explore the impact that the changing landscape of music consumption in the

digital age has had, and will have on this model of identity construction.

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Chapter % # & 'ild Internet &ppears

With the coming of age of the Internet as a mainstream channel for accessing multimedia, the music

industry has been forced to adapt to the new possibilities for music consumption presented by the digital

age. (egally purchased and downloaded music officially overtook physical music sales in %&)%,00

demonstrating that the market places a great deal of value on the immediacy of access that downloading

music offers. It is these developments that create a need to reexamine theories of identity construction

through music consumption and test whether or not they are still relevant in the age of the internet.

!he most obvious aspect of the transition from physical media to downloaded media is the removal of a

degree of physicality from the process of music consumption. Where once we were able to pick up a

physical ob:ect, be it a ", (> or cassette tape and have some conception that the piece of plastic we held

in our hands Dwas4 the music, we now simply have )s and &s sitting on our computer or M>5 player hard

drives, completely invisible to us until we want to access them. +uthors have charted the Dtangibility

preference4 of consumers,0/and noted that the monetary value placed on music has gone down as a result

of the loss of a physical manifestation of it.

"igital downloads also allow new possibilities for the illegal ac*uisition of music. -ervices such as

(imeWire, 'apster and websites such as !he >irate ay all allowed people to explore and consume as

much music as they could listen to by removing the cost barrier to entry.07!his freedom to consume

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creates a vicious cycle for the music industry as customers4 desire for music has outgrown their ability to

pay,08driving them towards illegal services in order to get their music 6fix=.02

!he transition from the physical media to downloads has been claimed to rob us of a large part of the

sensory experience of consuming music and authors have attributed the resurgence in vinyl sales to a

degree of alienation felt by consumers./&It is easy to dismiss these complaints as unhelpfully nostalgic and

sentimental, but elk4s theories on the extended self indicate that the idea of losing a degree of physical

interaction with an ob:ect could impact on our ability to incorporate its associated meanings into our

extended selves./)

+nother take on this argument would be to ask the *uestion of whether or not our experience of listening

to music changes as a result of the removal of a physicality of a record. It could be argued that removing

the uni*ue physical manifestation of a record allows us to appreciate the music in a more Dpure4 and direct

sense, by allowing us to ignore everything except the audio. !his leads to the debate over what exactly we

are consuming when we listen to different types of media, which whilst relevant to the scope of this

discussion, is far too broad and complex to be discussed here in any sort of detail. onsumption of music

in this dissertation is viewed as a person gaining the ability to listen to a recording of a piece of music in

one form or another.

$elated to the debate about what recorded music actually Dis4 is the research carried out into the

Dunbundling4 of music as we move into the digital age. Where the power to dictate which tracks were

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purchased by a consumer at the point of sale was once held by the record companies in determining track

listings for albums, the download revolution has given the power to the consumers to select individual

tracks from an album and purchase them for a lower cost./%onse*uently the concept of an album has

been disrupted, and it could be argued that consumers now have a much greater degree of choice when

buying music. If individual tracks on an album are understood as being consumable cultural symbols in

their own right, then the number of symbols now available for incorporation into the extended self is

greatly expanded.

"ownloaded music also impacts on theories of identity construction discussed earlier by interfering with

the notion of a music collection. +s i!unes and other music download services were rising to prominence,

authors raised the issue of whether or not people would more willingly dispose of unwanted digital music

because of the lack of a tangible ob:ect to throw away./5Further research of the sub:ect showed that not

only are people :ust as unwilling to dispose of digital music, they are also unwilling to throw away music

that they did not even pay for./1

!his would indicate that the concept of ownership of a piece of music, whether the result of a purchase or

not, is still a relevant concept in the digital age. Furthermore, the theory of identity construction through

the establishment of a collection set out in the previous chapter still holds up with downloaded musicB

most pieces of music managementEplayback software keep a curated display of all of the user4s music that

can be maintained by the user and then browsed through and viewed by others. !he theory runs into a

problem when we arrive at the idea of displaying a collection. + physical record collection still remains

visible to passers by when the " or record player is switched off, the same cannot be said for a collection

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of music housed on a computer hard drive or an M>5 player. !he virtualising of music does put up a

barrier to viewing the owner4s collection, however browsing through a friends i!unes library or scrolling

through the songs on their i>od is a practice that has been documented./0!aking this information into

account, it can be argued that it is possible for someone to present a record collection for another person to

view and make assumptions about the owner4s identity, although it must be admitted that downloaded

music is harder to present publicly than physical media.

+side from the building of a collection of recordings for the purposes of pro:ecting an identity we have

the idea that listening to a piece of music can aid construction of identity and selfconcept by triggering

emotions associated with a particular possible self.//"ownloaded music offers us a great deal of

flexibility as to when and where we listen to the music that we own. -tudies on Di>od culture4 have shown

that people use portable music players to shape their experience of the world around them./7!he capacity

of a modern M>5 player to hold a person4s entire record collection allows them to consume any piece of

purchased music anywhere they are, realising the emotions re*uired to experience different possible

selves./8!his idea goes further than perhaps is initially obvious. Whilst increased flexibility of location is

a huge part of portable music listening, the discreet, compact nature of an M>5 player means that we can

listen to certain types of music without fear of social reprisals. +n example of this could be a person who

outwardly expresses the identity of a oth, but secretly harbours a passion for the -pice irls being able

to listen to DViva Forever4 whilst walking down the street, without feeling as though he is being :udged for

his choice of media . In this way, the portability of downloaded music aids the realisation of possible

selves by allowing us to carry out private media/2interactions in more public spaces, indeed the idea of

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listening to socially forbidden music in a public space could give the listener a feeling of subversive

power, which in turn could aid identity construction.

"ownloading is currently the most popular way of accessing music online, but there is another means of

consuming music that has even greater potential to disrupt existing notions of identity construction

through music. -treaming music is a means of accessing music near instantaneously, provided the user has

an active internet connection at the time. -treaming sites such as (ast.FM and >andora and services such

as -potify Free, offer advertising supported streaming options, giving consumers access to a large library

of music for free. !here are certain *uality tradeoffs re*uired to provide a free service, 7&and so many

services offer a paidfor option, that generally improves audio *uality and removes advertising in

exchange for a monthly fee.

In relation to this discussion, the most important trade off associated with switching to a streaming service

is the loss of ownership over music that has been paid for @directly or through exposure to advertisingA.

;sers are not given direct access to an audio file on their hard drive, instead having to access the

streaming service through a piece of software or a website. In using a streaming service, consumers are in

effect renting access to a library of music, gaining the ability to listen to virtually anything at any time, but

forfeiting traditional ownership over the music. !his is an issue raised by ahanovich in his study of

young people and music consumption,7)the study found that many people would be open to the idea of an

!0 (ast.FM and >andora feature banner advertising and do not allow a user to select which tracks they want to

listen to, instead choosing music automatically based on a users preffered artists and genres. -potify on the other

hand allows users to choose individual tracks, but interrupts listening with more intrusive audio adverts at regular

intervals.

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6all you can eat= download service, but a significantly smaller proportion of people would be interested in

paying for access to a streaming service if they did not actually get to own the music they were listening

to.7%!he same survey also stated that if people did use a streaming service, many of them felt that they

would also maintain a collection of their favourite music for the sake of actually owning it. !he rate of

uptake for paidfor streaming services also indicates that ownership of music is something that many

people priGe very highly.75

!he reluctance of people to relin*uish ownership of their music would appear to indicate that the switch

from downloaded to streamed music consumption re*uires a much larger paradigm shift than the switch

from physical media to downloads. +s a result, it cannot be assumed that existing theories of identity

construction still apply to the use of streaming services. iving up the right to own music in exchange for

greater freedom of access gives us a legal means of satisfying our desire for a vast array of different

music.71!his interferes with the notion of a collection most strongly, and with reference to en:amin4s

thoughts on collecting, the idea that someone might own a piece of music and never listen to it 70@or own

a book that they will never readA becomes impossible.

It is clear that streaming music is going to have a profound impact on identity construction in relationship

to the theory that I have already laid out. In some respects, the use of a streaming service seems to benefit

our ability to construct an identity, especially in relation to our own self concept and exploration of

possible selves. !he decoupling of music from an individual transaction gives us unlimited potential

@aside from time constraintsA for what music we consume and the prevalence of smartphones with apps

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capable of accessing streaming services expands our capacity for mobile listening even further than the

introduction of the i>od. !his means that we are now able to explore the emotions associated with

different possible selves wherever and whenever we like, unconstrained by the music we actually own,

because we can access any virtually any piece of music we like on a whim. It can be argued that this new

freedom powerfully backs up (arson4s writing on private media consumption7/, Markus and 'urius4 on

possible selves77and "e 'ora4s on emotional work.78onversely, the trading away of ownership means

that it appears to be impossible to maintain any sort of record collection# it could be argued that the ability

of the consumer to construct a playlist of favourite tracks for easy access could be viewed as a form of

collection, but this can be countered by the fact that should the user ever stop paying for the service,

closes their account @if the service is freeA or the service becomes unavailable, access to those playlists

will be lost, and the user will be left with nothing more than when they originally signed up.

!he key problem with streaming music in terms of our ability to carry out identity work, is the fact that

the loss of ownership strips consumers of the ability to meaningfully create any form of publicly viewable

collection of music that other people can use to make assumptions about the identity of the collection4s

owner. What is re*uired is some way of recreating a viewable collection of music that can be displayed as

a means of saying, Dthis is the music that I listen to and en:oy4 in order to allow the music consumer the

ability to pro:ect an image of their identity to other people. I would like to suggest that the answer to this

problem may lie in social networking. -ince its initial creation, the internet has been a powerful tool for

social interaction, allowing people to interact across the globe through email, instant messaging, VoI>,

video conferencing and dedicated social network websites. Whilst numerous social networks have come

and gone over the last )& years, the biggest name in social networking is Facebook. With over ) billion

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active users at the last count,72Facebook in its current form allows users to create a personal D!imeline4 on

which they can publish text, hyperlinks, photographs, videos, public events and life events. !his timeline

can also be published to through Facebook4s extendable D9pen raph4 framework,8&which allows custom

built DFacebook +pps4 and external websites to log and publish information about a user4s online activity#

for example the website -oundloud provides a platform for users to upload self created audio, and

publishes this audio onto a users Facebook timeline automatically for others to access. In this way, users

of Facebook are able to maintain an extensive archive of every one of their actions online in a service that

they have connected with their Facebook account. !his archive consists of a public facing timeline that

can be curated and edited, to remove unwanted posts or only display them to certain people, and as a

searchable 6+ctivity (og= viewable only to the owner, which holds every single action that Facebook has

recorded.

+s mentioned earlier, this dissertation will focus primarily on Facebook and -potify as an example of the

way in which music streaming services can interact with social networking. !his is partly due to a need to

constrain the discussion to two specific examples to avoid making generalisations for the sake of saving

time and the fact that Facebook and -potify are the two biggest names in their respective fields in the ;


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!he end result of the interaction between the two services is an archive that can be curated and displayed

online, much more publicly than a library of M>5 files on a computer or M>5 player, or a record

collection on shelves in the home. !his collection of music is distinct as well because it does not represent

an archive of consumption through purchasing, but an archive of music listening that is completely

unbound from financial constraints @beyond any monthly fees or exposure to advertisingA. In addition to

the level of detail recorded about a user4s music listening, when the information is displayed on the

Facebook timeline, it is interspersed with a record of all of the user4s other online actions, giving viewers

of a timeline an increased level of context in which to inform their assumptions about a user4s identity. It

would appear that this capacity for archiving music consumption outstrips the abilities of a traditional

record collection. !he content is more flexible, editable, displayable and presented with an unprecedented

level of context. It appears that far from being robbed of our ability to pro:ect a set of symbolic resources

for others to make assumptions about identity, by utilising the integration between -potify and Facebook,

users are now given a blank canvas of unprecedented resolution upon which they can construct an identity

to pro:ect to the world.

It seems that the theory of identity construction through music consumption set out at the end of chapter )

is still relevant to the digital age# with the conse*uence of the use of streaming services being a large

increase in the level of access to tracks and flexibility as to when and where these tracks are listened to.

!hrough the combination of -potify and Facebook, the created archive of listening takes on a new level of

detail and context. From this it appears that the Internet is expanding, rather than diminishing our potential

for constructing and pro:ecting identity through the act of music consumption. !his assertion raises

*uestions about the level of agency involved in identity construction using music, and in the following

chapter I hope to address some of the following *uestions.

C How active are most users of Facebook in the construction and pro:ection of their identity with particular

reference to music listening habits?


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C !o what extent is Facebook seen as a tool for communicating with friends, or a platform for identity

construction?

C !o what extent are people aware of the relationship between their music consumption and their identity?

C Is the sharing of personal information on social network seen as a good thing, or a necessary act in order

to access a powerful communication tool?

C !o what extent do users censor the information that appears on Facebook, and does this censorship extend

to listening habits documented by -potify?


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Chapter 3 # Field(ork description

In order to gain a basic level of real world perspective on issues of identity construction and music

consumption, a survey was devised @see appendix )A with a series of multiple choice *uestions designed

get a feel for the respondent4s level of awareness of sharing of music consumption activity online,

opinions on the importance of music to understanding the identities of others and for those respondents

who were -potify users, the extent to which they made use of various sharing features.

!he survey was conducted using a convenience sample, a series of re*uests for help were published on

Facebook and !witter, with other people encouraged to repost the link to the survey to their friends.

$e*uests were also sent out on !witter to various high profile figures to retweet the link to the survey, a

few of which were successful, including one to author -imon $eynolds.

$esponses were screened based on whether or not the respondent was an active Facebook user, and those

who answered no were taken to the end of the survey. In total, ))0 responses were received of which )5

were discarded because the respondent was not active on Facebook. 9f those that remained, the

respondents were separated into those who used -potify, those who could remember a time before having

access to the internet @as a nod to authors who have *ueried what the effects of being immersed in internet

access since birth might beA.8)!he vast ma:ority of the respondents were aged )2%%, in keeping with the

general age range of a community of undergraduate university students.

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!he use of a convenience sample in this case was a practical trade off, deemed acceptable because of the

intention to supplement the survey data with follow up interviews. In this instance the survey data is

intended to give a general understanding of strong trends in terms of popular opinion and beliefs relating

to music consumption and identity. !he respondents were also asked if they had had ever studied music or

identity at a degree level, but the data showed that this appeared to have no bearing on the responses given

to the multiple choice *uestions however those who were familiar with identity issues generally gave

more detailed and informed responses in the free comment section at the end of the survey.


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Chapter ) # &nalysis and implications for hypotheses.

How active are most users of Facebook in the construction and projection of their identity with particular

reference to music listening habits?

28 of respondents to the survey agreed that music was an important part of their life, with 21 also

agreeing that the music they consumed was often dictated by their mood. >eople are also very aware of

what their taste in music says about them as a person to others, and that people do infer aspects of identity

from the music tastes and consumption habits of others.

What the results of the survey do not show is that people actively construct a specific identity through

music consumption. !he construction of identity through music consumption would appear to be more of

a subconscious process rather than actively deciding on the impression that they want to give, and

listening to music accordingly. "espite appearing to contradict the previously laid out theories, this result

is in keeping with arguments that theories of identity construction through music consumption fre*uently

assign the consumer too much agency.8%Whilst this convenience sample can not conclusively state

anything, the general feeling of those surveyed would appear to indicate that whilst music consumers have

a great deal of agency in the music they consume, the sharing of music tastes online is not considered an

act of identity construction.

To what extent is Facebook seen as a tool for communicating with friends, or a platform for identity

construction?

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Whilst it can be argued that Facebook offers a platform for the construction of identity, offering users the

opportunity to present biographical data, photos, events, thoughts and stories from their lives, the

interviewees all stated that the primary function of Facebook was as a tool for communication, especially

over long distances. 'one of the interviewees considered it as a ma:or platform for construction of

identity, stating that they would hope that people on Facebook would know them well enough in real life

to understand who they were. 9ne interviewee claimed that she found anything posted on Facebook that

was clearly an act of identity construction annoying, claiming that it felt as though the person in *uestion

was boasting about the superiority of their own lives.

"espite this, the interviewees and the results of the survey would indicate that even if it is not seen as one,

people still use Facebook as a platform for identity construction, but not in an active way. +gain whilst

seemingly opposed to the theories laid out earlier, this conclusion is supported by other research. y using

Facebook primarily as a communications tool people are able to perform social interactions across the

internet, the cultural resources displayed on Facebook help to form a sense of place @albeit a constructed

oneA in keeping with writing4s on identity construction in online mediated communities.85!he act of

consumption has itself been claimed to occur in order to facilitate social interactions.81!his claim may be

an overgeneralisation but it does appear to explain at least partially why Facebook was not viewed

primarily as a platform for the pro:ection of identity by the respondents to the survey.

To what extent are people aware of the relationship between their music consumption and their identity?

$espondents and interviewees acknowledged that a link between music consumption and a person4s

identity exists. 9ne interviewee agreed that a link existed, but argued that music tastes generally reflect a

"3

"4


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person4s personality and that music consumption as a function of identity construction must be considered

on a multidimensional scale# taking into account the extent to which a person listens to music, the known

level of eclecticism of their tastes as well as the specific details of the types of music that they consume.

+nother respondent corroborated this, arguing that it is possible to infer aspects of identity through

looking at a person4s music consumption but that these inferences are always made in the context of what

is known about a person, supporting previous academic writing on the topic of identity inference through

consumption of symbolic cultural resources.80

s the sharing of personal information on social network seen as a good thing, or a necessary act in order

to access a powerful communication tool?

In terms of general sharing of information, the interviewees claimed to be fairly ambivalent to the idea of

sharing any activity, not viewing it as a particularly positive or negative thing. "ifferent types of sharing

did elicit different opinions. For example it was generally agreed that the more useful or interesting the

content was, the more it was viewed as worthy of sharing. !he interviewees :ointly agreed that the worst

form of Facebook activity was the sharing of adverts from games being played by a user. >eople generally

viewed posts containing user created content as being the most worthwhile, and had a mixed reaction to

music related posts, ranging from uninterested to appreciative. !he level of appreciation for music related

posts seems to correlate with the level of interest that the viewer has in discovering new music.

With regards to the sharing of personal information on Facebook, views seem to vary. 'one of the people

interviewed claimed to put personal information on Facebook for the purposes of creating an online

identity. !he interviewees ranged from putting the bare minimum amount of personal information on

Facebook because of concerns over privacy and security to adding data whenever Facebook made it

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convenient to do so. !he interviewees expressed little interest in expanding their online profiles in such a

way that reflected an identity that they wanted to pro:ect to other people, although they acknowledged that

people might make certain assumptions about their own identities based on the content of their Facebook

pages.

To what extent do users censor the information that appears on Facebook, and does this censorship

extend to listening habits documented by !potify?

ensorship of music related posts on Facebook was not something that the interviewees considered a

necessary part of participation in a social network. !he survey results showed that only 52 of people

would actively avoid sharing a piece of music on Facebook if they thought that they would be :udged

negatively as a result. -imilarly only 51 claimed that they only shared music on Facebook that reflected

positively on them. +mongst the interviewees there was a general feeling that the ma:ority of

Dembarrassing4 posts on Facebook *uickly got lost amongst all of the other information and so did not

merit being censored. !he main type of content that interviewees admitted to censoring was photographs,

especially photographs from nights out that may reflect badly on the user should they be seen by

:udgemental employers, friends or relatives.

!he results on the level of censorship carried out by users of Facebook and -potify are in keeping with the

idea that state that people generally are unwilling to part with any music that they have purchased and are

still willing to display embarrassing records @usually novelty recordsA in their collections8/. !his could

theoretically translate into censorship of -potify activity on Facebook. If users of -potify feel a degree of

ownership over the music that they consume @despite the fact that no financial ownership existsA then they

may be :ust as unwilling to part with a record of their music consumption as they would be to part with a

"6


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physical record or a downloaded file. 9f course, this is purely hypothetical# in reality it is plausible that

the implications of leaving potentially embarrassing content on Facebook for people to see may not be

significant enough to warrant proactive censoring.

When considering the results of the survey and interviews, it is worth noting that much of what was

discovered could be explained and related to existing theories of identity construction with a certain

degree of interpretation. !his would appear to argue the case for the validity of the proposed system of

identity construction through music consumption outlined in the first two chapters. It re*uires restating

that identity construction in this manner is simply one possible method of identity construction through

music consumption, and the range of responses given indicate that identity construction through music

consumption in this way is certainly not universal.

From the responses received to the survey and the sentiments from the interviewees, the general

impression is that identity construction through music streaming services combined with social

networking sites is probably better regarded as a phenomenon rather than a process. !he construction of

identity seems to be a byproduct of the social interactions triggered by the act of music consumption as

has been previously suggested for music consumption in the past.87!his puts into perspective and

reinforces what has been reiterated throughout this pro:ect# that music consumption is not the be all and

end all of identity construction.

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Conclusion

!his dissertation has explored the construction and pro:ection of identity through the consumption of

music and the ways in which this process has been affected by the advent of the digital age, with specific

reference to music streaming through -potify and the opportunities offered for identity pro:ection through

Facebook. eginning with an exploration of existing theories of identity construction through music

consumption, the study set about combining different theories of identity construction into a loose

framework that can be applied to the consumption of music through physical media. !he effects of the

internet on these theories were then explored, looking firstly at the increased flexibility offered by

downloaded music and the increased portability offered by portable M>5 players. Finally, the effects of

music streaming services were examined, looking at how the removal of the concept of ownership of

music had on its capacity to aid in identity construction. !he next phase of the pro:ect aimed to test the

loose framework of identity construction against a convenience sample of Facebook users, containing a

subset of -potify users. !he results were then compared with the responses of a group of interviewees,

selected from the survey respondents. !he results were examined to determine whether or not the

framework for identity construction was still relevant to music consumption through streaming.

!he findings of the pro:ect indicated that many existing theories of identity construction and pro:ection

are still relevant to a combination of music streaming and social networking through -potify and

Facebook. Whilst showing that with a little modification and interpretation, the framework laid out could

be used as a guide to one particular method for identity construction, the results indicated that theories of

identity construction through music consumption assign music consumers with too much agency in the

process of identity construction# something that has already been suggested in literature.88!he general

""


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impression gained from the responses was that people are aware of issues of identity construction, but

they are generally more proactive in assessing the identities of others than they are in constructing their

own identity. With specific regards to streaming music, there is a degree of variance regarding the extent

to which the lack of ownership over the music consumed is regarded as a positive or negative thing. -ome

respondents to the survey claimed to use -potify more or less exclusively for listening to music, en:oying

it because of the flexibility and freedom it offers in accessing different types of music. For those people

looking for a legal way to consume a large variety of music, -potify presents an attractive alternative to

illegal downloading or paying for every track listened to. Further research is needed into whether a

person4s willingness to give up ownership of music is tied to their opinions on identity construction and

music taste in general.

!he fact that people do not tend to actively construct a desired identity through consumption reinforces

the assertion that music construction is not the only way in which people construct and pro:ect their

identities and that identity construction is not the primary or sole purpose of music consumption. I would

argue that music consumption exists as an activity that serves several functions in a person4s life. Whilst

music consumption is carried out primarily for entertainment, it also serves to shape a person4s mood by

triggering certain emotions,82shape a person4s experience of their environment through mobile

consumption2&and serve to facilitate social interactions through presenting a culturally symbolic resource

that can be drawn upon and related to by groups of people.

!he findings of the study also highlight the fact that whilst music consumption is a powerful tool for

constructing identity, music consumption activity that is published online will be interpreted in the context

of the information that it is presented alongside and what is already known about the consumer. (ooking

"#

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purely at Facebook information, there is a general availability of information presented by users relating

to that person4s biographical identity, but social identity must be inferred through the examination of

interactions that are visible on Facebook combined with what is known about a person in the offline

world.

!he lack of specifically constructed identities online suggests that people are moving away from the idea

of constructing an online identity in addition to their offline one. !his is evidenced by the fact that in

recent years the number of online social networking profiles that contained a great deal of embellished or

fabricated information has dropped significantly.2)-ince the first instances of social networking sites, the

internet has become increasingly pervasive and ubi*uitous in the everyday lives of people. !he fact that

people can now access the internet on their mobile phones virtually wherever they are allows the line

between the online and offline worlds to blur. It could be argued that this blurring has an effect on the type

of interactions people have offline, and the type of information people share on the internet because they

have a far greater ability to access the online world and the information it holds, whilst still participating

actively in offline life. !he lack of segregation between online and offline identities makes it much more

difficult to maintain a fabricated identity because any falsehoods can be discovered much more easily.

Whether or not we are moving towards a world where the online and offline worlds operate nearly

seamlessly, it cannot be ignored that the internet is having a large effect on the way in which we perceive

others, filtering our interactions with them by giving us access to a range of information regarding that

person. With regards to the relationship between identity and music consumption, the increasing ubi*uity

of the internet in everyday life means that presenting an interest in music generally, as well as in specific

bands, artists and songs will become easier, because information that was once hidden in a record

collection or an i!unes library can now be accessed at the press of a button.

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!he limitations of this study must be acknowledged. !he use of a convenience sample severely restricts

the ability of the study to say anything decisive, but it does indicate a general direction for further research

considerations. Following on from this dissertation more research is needed to explain the relationship

between a person4s personality, opinions and interests and the extent to which a person relies on music for

identity construction. Further to this, it would be useful to explore the ways in which music consumption

technology and systems with the ability to pro:ect identity are evolving, and to use the framework of

identity construction and pro:ection laid out to predict the ways in which people will interact with these

services.

In terms of real world applications of this information, it is valuable for companies to understand the ways

in which their customers view of themselves and others around them if formed, for the purposes of

customising marketing material to appeal to people on a more personal level. !he nature of music as

something with the power to evoke an emotional response means that it can be incredibly powerful as a

tool for engaging consumers of other products through advertising. !hrough a more structured framework

for understanding a consumer4s identity, companies can deliver targeted advertising in a more personal

and effective manner.

In the earlier chapters, the construction of a person4s self concept was covered, with reference to existing

theories on the extended self,2%possible selves,25and private media consumption practices.21Whilst the

latter half of the work focused primarily on the construction and pro:ection of public identities, work is

needed to explore the connection between a person4s self concept and the way in which they are perceived

#2

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by others. It is possible that a person could use music consumption to aid in the development of their own

self concept, which then informs their music tastes, which are then expressed publicly to others. + further

study could explore the connection between self concept and publicly perceived identities, attempting to

develop a framework for the successful translation of the former to the latter.

!his pro:ect has shown that identity and music consumption are linked, but highlights the pitfalls of

forgetting that identity is affected by factors other than music consumption. It also indicates that identity

construction for the purposes of presenting an identity to other people is a much more passive process than

was previously considered. !he transition from physical media to downloaded media has made construction

of self concept through music a much more flexible and portable process, and has enhanced our ability to

shape our experience of the world around us. Finally the loss of the concept of ownership of music creates a

need to replace the concept of a record collection or archive. Facebook allows us to archive all of our

streamed music consumption and present it for other people to interpret. Identity and music remain

connected in the digital age, but the level of control we have over this connection is vastly increased. !he

goth who likes the -pice irls is now able to act on his music tastes and listen to D-piceworld4 in its entirety

whenever he likes, he :ust doesn4t have to tell anyone.

streaming social: facebook, spotify and the construction of identity in cyberspace

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