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Catchy songs that “go viral” are uploaded in a way that closely resembles the spread of an actual virus, new research has found in Britain.
The data was collected before the music streaming era, but the results suggest that some tracks are downright infectious, jumping from host to host much like a pathogen.
When researchers tracked song downloads from Nokia cell phones between 2007 and 2014, they found that some songs fit well into a common infectious disease pattern, known as the susceptible-infectious-recovered pattern ( SIR).
The resulting epidemic curves make the team think there may be similar social mechanisms at play for the spread of both disease and song.
“Popular songs are often described as ‘viral’ or ‘catchy’ as if they could ‘infect’ people; perhaps this description is more appropriate than previously believed, ”write the authors.
“In fact, the download time series for many popular songs that we examine in this study are similar in shape to the infectious disease time series.”
The SIR model was developed to highlight the mechanisms underlying disease transfer, which means that we can eventually use it to make similar inferences about popular music as well.
It might seem like a crazy idea at first, but it’s something researchers have been postulating for some time now.
While there may be something in the inherent nature of a musical tune that makes it more likely to “go viral,” new research suggests that the structure of a community also influences a song’s popularity.
In previous studies, for example, when the same set of music was played for different groups, it was difficult to predict which song would be the most popular.
Neuroimaging studies have also shown that teens are likely to change their minds about a song when they have other people’s opinions.
The two lines of research suggest that songs only go viral if the song itself is contagious enough and if the right social conditions exist.
In the present study, for example, when researchers compared various genres of songs, they identified different types of music downloading and sharing behavior among fans.
Although pop music is considered the most popular, for example, songs of the Electronica genre seemed to be gaining popularity and “spreading” the fastest in Britain.
The authors believe this is because Electronica fans are a “community more sensitive” to earworms. Because this is a more specialized genre, Electronica fans are likely to be closely related, allowing the catchy tune to flow from host to host with much more ease than larger genres. appreciated like Pop.
The result is that Electronica’s hit songs go through shorter and faster epidemics, “meaning that these songs seem to be gaining popularity faster than those of other genres and burning their susceptible populations faster.”
Something similar happens when a contagious virus spreads through a tight-knit community. First, it is passed from person to person through social interactions. Then, when the pool of susceptible individuals is depleted, it peaks and begins to decline.
“At the end of an epidemic of the disease, a large part of the population will have been infected with the disease”, explain the authors, “while at the end of a period of extreme popularity of a hit song , a large part of the population will recognize this song. “
The authors hope more researchers will start using the simple SIR model to explore not only disease contagions, but music contagions as well.
The study was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society A.
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