Two sides of the same coin: Opinions and choices of users and non-users related to mobile music listening

Abstract

Mobile music listening has been explored from several perspectives, however, not much is known about the choices mobile music listeners have to make. Moreover, feedback from non-listeners on music listening has only been given anecdotally and not in the context of research. The aim of this thesis is therefore to investigate what motivates listeners to engage with mobile music and to discover more about the social and personal aspects that influence this engagement, as well as to explore views of non-listeners on mobile music listening. Employing a mixed-methods approach, interviews and participant observation were carried out with eleven mobile music listeners to investigate their thoughts and motivations regarding mobile music listening, and to verify these in practice. Eleven people who do not use portable listening devices were also interviewed about their opinions on mobile music listening. The most striking finding of this thesis is that listeners are not always listeners since they sometimes turn off their devices. The interviews with non-users of portable listening devices confirm that mobile music listening is not always seen as positive but has negative aspects as well, which add an important perspective to understanding this behaviour. Results reveal that mobile music listening is a complex cultural practice that connects to many parts of everyday life. Thus, mobile music listening, and similar practices, need to be studied in context to fully grasp everything that is happening. The new method applied in the first study proved to be beneficial in studying everyday behaviour as it occurs. It helps to gain valuable in-depth information in a short amount of time which is useful for future studies of everyday practices. Finally, results show that mobile music listening is simultaneously more sociable than previously assumed but also perceived as unsociable, which contributes a new perspective to studies of urban behaviour.