Looking for an article I once read about the popularity of music

December 27, 2020 8:32 AM

I'm looking for an article that ran perhaps five years ago, which ran simulations of musical popularity in different artificially created groups of people, showing that in different domains, different artists would become popular.

I believe the purpose of the article was to show that in our world, the fact that a certain artist is at the top of the charts is only one possible reality; that it could easily be a different artist. That popularity begets more popularity. The scientists proved this by observing five or six sub-groups of people, allowing them to sample and listen to the same selection of artists, and then noting that in one group, an artist became the most popular one, while in another group, it was another artist.

I can't for the life of me find this article. If you know the article, could you please post a link to it? Thank you!

posted by Clotilde to Grab Bag (2 answers total)

Best answer: A friend found it for me!

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/health/in-music-others-tastes-may-help-shape-your-own.html
posted by Clotilde at 9:27 AM on December 27, 2020 [1 favorite]

See also this extensive list of other articles on the same subject.
posted by alex1965 at 12:24 PM on December 27, 2020 [1 favorite]