Playlists and genre: the role of music genre in Spotify’s playlists

Callum McDonald, A. Foster, Pauline Rafferty
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Abstract

PurposeGenre is a valuable access point for popular music collections; however, the blurring of genre boundaries combined with changing listening habits and new forms of classification have brought genre’s importance into question. The playlist is now a common means of classification on music streaming platforms. Recent commentary suggests that context is now a preferred access point. This exploratory study offers an examination of genres’ role in playlists.Design/methodology/approachA mixed-methods study investigates, using Spotify, whether genre retains relevance amidst the rise in popularity of playlist-based music classification. Sample size is noted as a limitation of the study.FindingsQualitative coding of user and editorial playlist names revealed less than 20% of codes applied were genre-based. However, when non-genre themes were differentiated, genre themes ranked as one of the most prevalent. Context-based themes were most common, though genre was readily combined with other descriptive themes, highlighting its utility. Quantitative analysis of genre tags showed playlists with context-based themes demonstrated higher genre homogeneity than those using generic themes, indicating playlists were named on a genre-by-proxy basis.Originality/valueThe study suggests that genre continues to play an integral role in a field where an eclectic variety of descriptive themes has emerged, although its role may have changed. Context-based themes are central to the way users organise music, though such terms can often serve as containers for music collections sharing distinct generic and musicological similarities.
播放列表与类型:音乐类型在 Spotify 播放列表中的作用
目的流派是流行音乐收藏的一个重要接入点;然而,流派界限的模糊、聆听习惯的改变以及新的分类形式使流派的重要性受到质疑。在音乐流媒体平台上,播放列表现在是一种常见的分类方式。最近的评论表明,语境现在是首选的接入点。这项探索性研究对流派在播放列表中的作用进行了探讨。设计/方法/方法这项混合方法研究使用 Spotify 调查了在基于播放列表的音乐分类日益流行的情况下,流派是否仍具有相关性。研究结果对用户和编辑的播放列表名称进行定性编码后发现,只有不到 20% 的编码是基于流派的。然而,如果对非流派主题进行区分,流派主题则是最普遍的主题之一。基于上下文的主题最为常见,尽管流派很容易与其他描述性主题相结合,从而突出了其实用性。对体裁标签的定量分析显示,与使用通用主题的播放列表相比,使用基于语境的主题的播放列表显示出更高的体裁同质性,这表明播放列表的命名是以体裁为基础的。基于语境的主题对于用户组织音乐的方式至关重要,尽管这些术语通常可以作为具有明显的通用性和音乐学相似性的音乐集合的容器。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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