Music mavens revisited: Comparing the impact of connectivity and dispositions in the digital age

Abstract

This article aims to contribute to work on music mavenism with the explicit goals to analyze how important connectivity (e.g. someone social network) is in the way music spreads, compared to dispositions (schemes of perception and appreciation). Concretely, I study how individuals find new music and who are involved in spreading information on music. I use data from a representative survey on the Dutch population to examine this. Music discovery can be characterized by three types of practices: individualized networks, traditional expertise, and mass media. The results also show that successful influencers – mavens – differ only slightly from these listeners who are highly involved in exchanging music tips. Dispositions – particularly cultural capital – remain highly influential in explaining not only how people find music but also who recommends music and still seem to be more important than connectivity.