The COVID-19 pandemic brought a period of sadness and uncertainty. Music plays an essential role in our lives, accompanying us through all stages of our souls. Each one has its own soundtrack. The sentiment expressed in the music consumed in 31 countries during the challenging period tends to be more positive than positive periods. The study includes econometric tests and several robustness checks to show that people listen to more positive music to encourage themselves in challenging periods.
De Lucio and Palomeque (2023) found a positive correlation between economic downturns and the consumption of positive music. The paper was based on Billboard data from the United States, over the period 1958-2019. Our newest article, awarded with the 2023 President’s Prize at the International Conference for Cultural Economics, develops some new extensions that shred light to the use of music as a tool for emotional compensation. First, the negative social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic gave us with the opportunity to delve deeper into this effect, considering social downturns. Is the observed change in music preferences a result of economic crises, or are other social factors (such as pandemics) also responsible? To address these questions, we analyse the recent socioeconomic and sanitary crisis. Second, is this effect something rooted in American culture, or is the use of positive music as a sentimental reliever something common in different cultures around the world? This time, we have used music consumption data from a diverse range of countries. Finally, we extend the data set. Here we provide an overview of the research methodology and findings of the article.
We have compiled weekly Spotify charts for the top 200 most consumed songs on a weekly basis for 31 OECD countries over a five-year period (from December 2016 to October 2022). This resulted in a total of 46,697 unique songs. The next step was to measure the sentiment-related consumption. We then performed an automated search of the lyrics on Google. Next, we utilized a Natural Language Processing (NLP) technique, VADER, to analyze the sentiment expressed in each song.
Figure 1: Positive and negative consumption of lyrics.
Source: own elaboration
Following this analysis, we have developed indicators for positive and negative consumption of music, Figure 1. As Spotify, like other streaming services, experienced rapid growth at the start of the study, we observed an increase in both positive and negative consumption during the first years of the study. The interesting part came afterwards: while the consumption of negative lyrics started to fall after the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the consumption of positive songs did not stop its rise. This initial visual analysis indicated a potential soothing influence of music in the context of socioeconomic crises.
To verify statistically this effect, we perform an econometric analysis. We created a panel data set with the positive lyrics’ indicator. To assess socioeconomic conditions, we utilized the unemployment rate (a key economic indicator with the greatest impact on well-being) and the stringency index (a composite indicator of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on society). We then ran the regressions with country and month of the year fixed effects included. Country-specific factors are essential, given the unique circumstances and cultures of each country. Month-of-the-year effects are included to account for the observation, see Figure 1 that at the end of each year, we consistently observed a peak in positive music consumption at the end of each year. This was not related to any socioeconomic conditions, but rather to the Christmas season. Carols typically convey a positive message, and they are among the most consumed songs of each December.
Table 1: Results
| (1) Positive (Spotify) = | 1.277*** Unemployment + 0.039*** COVID | R2 = 0.944 |
| (2) Valence = | 0.610*** Unemployment + 0.047*** COVID | R2 = 0.956 |
| (3) Positive (YouTube) = | 0.514*** Unemployment + 0.065*** COVID | R2 = 0.926 |
*** Significant 1%
Table 1, row (1), presents the results of the primary scenario. The results indicate that both economic (measured by unemployment) and sanitary (measured by the stringency index) conditions are positively associated with the consumption of positive music, as evidenced by the lyrics of songs listened to on Spotify. This study includes several robustness checks to ensure that the relationship between the variables is not spurious. These include the use of other COVID-19 indicators, including the inflation rate as an independent variable, the study of subsets, a new method of measuring our dependent variable (positive consumption), the change in the way we measure consumption, and so on. We present two of the most interesting robustness checks. One of the fundamental criticisms of the study was that individuals sometimes do not prioritise the lyrics when listening to a song. In some cases, the lyrics are not even in a language that the consumer understands. To address this concern, we have included ‘valence’ in Table 1, row (2). The valence metric assesses the positive or negative sentiment of a song based solely on musical elements such as rhythm, key and harmony, without considering the lyrics. Another criticism was that the results could be influenced by the algorithms used by Spotify to deliver new music to users. To verify that the results were not influenced by Spotify’s algorithm, we repeated the study using data from YouTube. The results are shown in Table 1, row (3). The two new versions of the regressions, along with all the others included in the paper, confirm the hypothesis and show a positive correlation between positive music consumption and adverse socio-economic conditions.
Our findings reveal that during economic recessions and social crises (such as the COVID-19 pandemic), individuals turn to positive music consumption as a coping mechanism. Specifically, rising unemployment rates or inflation prompt increased consumption of uplifting music, mitigating the negative impact of socioeconomic downturns. Our results underscore the importance of fostering access to the cultural sector during adverse scenarios, emphasizing the role of positive music in enhancing well-being.
References
de Lucio, J., Palomeque, M. Music preferences as an instrument of emotional self-regulation along the business cycle. Journal of Cultural Economics 47, 181–204 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10824-022-09454-7
About this article
Palomeque, M., de-Lucio, J. The Soundtrack of a Crisis: More Positive Music Preferences During Economic and Social Adversity. Journal of Happiness Studies 25, 44 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-024-00757-4
About the authors
Marco Palomeque is a PhD Student in Cultural Economics at Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, Spain.
Juan de Lucio is a Professor of Economics at Universidad de Alcalá, Madrid, Spain.
About the image
Photo of a crowd in a music festival in Stellenbosch (South Africa) took by Nqobile Vundla. Free commercial use picture provided by Unplash.com
