Music Trends Across the Globe

By Danielle Bragg

 

 

Motivating Quetions

I wanted to examine the growth and decay of different music genres over time. Specifically, I wanted to examine the growth or decay of classical music over time. As a classical musician, I have heard many discussions about the imminent death of classical music. If these claims are true, a visualization demonstrating that classical music, or any other genre, is in danger might spur teachers and parents to share more music with the next generation. This would help preserve the music.

Thus I wanted to examine real data about classical music consumption and popularity in comparison to other genres to evaluate these claims. From these patterns of growth and decay, I wanted to extrapolate on the futures of the genres. For example, an increase in consumption of a particular type of music in a developing region could indicate that that genre has a future in that region. As the people have become more prosperous, they have consumed more music; it would be reasonable to project that as economic growth continues, consumption will continue as well.

I also was interested in any correlations between cultures (or geographical location) and musical genres. Maybe people from the Mediterranean prefer certain types of music, while people from Eastern Asia prefer others. Or maybe as technology brings people from all different regions into more frequent contact, our tastes in music are becoming more similar throughout the world.

 

 

My Data

My data is primarily numerical data. Each data point is the percentage of music sales that are of a particular genre for a specific country and year. My data ranges over the years 2001-2005, and my genres are Classical, Dance, Jazz/Blues, Rap/Hip-Hop, R&B/Urban/Soul, Pop (defined by country), and Rock (non-pop). The countries consist of fourteen of the top-selling countries, scattered throughout North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The data demonstrates trends in the genres’ popularities through their consumption. This tells the story of the popularity of different genres throughout the world, and this is precisely what I wanted to visualize.

I chose to present percentages rather than actual numbers of sales because a percent of the total sales more accurately reflects popularity. And popularity most accurately reflects the presence of the genre, since there could be other forms of music consumption such as street performances, live performances, and radio. The actual number of sales does not necessarily reflect the genre’s popularity. For example, if the population increases greatly, but the percentage decreases, the number of sales in that genre could still increase.

The data comes from the "Global Recording Industry in Numbers". This is a publication by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry Secretariat. It presents numerical data on sales, trends, and other statistics for different markets worldwide. The book is located in the Harvard Baker Business Library, and cannot be checked out, so I photocopied all relevant data while visiting the library.

Before finding this book, I searched the internet extensively for data on music consumption by genre and location. Unfortunately, there is an extreme scarcity of this particular data online. I found one source online that would be an ideal source for me in the World Music Recording Industry Market Report, found here. Unfortunately, a reader must pay $3,950 to access this data. This is an example of the difficulties posed to visualization by a lack of public information.

 

 

My Design

The chief component of my design is a map with bubbles on it indicating music sales in particular countries. This form of visualization most effectively portrays my data, since it is both geographical and quantitative. I creatively redrew the map of the world to better present my data. Since I have very little data on countries in Asia, I drastically condensed Asia. I also cut out Africa and Antarctica, since I have no data on countries in these continents, either. I also enlarged Europe so that the user can better view the many data points located there. All continents in the map still maintain their relative geographies with respect to each other, as well as their internal geographies. This redrawing eliminates much whitespace while still presenting a meaningful representation of the geography of the world.

Here is my creative map, which contains all my data points and is the main display of my visualization.

The user can select the year for which he wishes to view sales by using the scrollbar. I chose a scrollbar because I thought that it would be convenient for the user to quickly scroll through the years and see the overall changes or trends in the map. However, the user must select a specific year, Which is a discrete data point, while my original scrollbar was continuous. To solve this inconsistency, I modified my scrollbar so that it has little notches. If you try to move the bar to a location closer to a particular notch than any other, it jumps to that notch.

The user can also select the genre for which he wishes to view data from a panel of color-coded buttons. The color-coding adds aesthetic appeal to my visualization, since the bubbles on the map take on the color of the selected genre. Color-coding also makes sense, since this dimension of my data is nominal. I determined my color-coding using Color Brewer online.

When the user selects a genre using the panel of buttons described, music starts playing in the background. The music is a typical example of the genre selected. This helps to define the genre, and more fully engages the user in the visualization. If a song reaches its end before the user switches genres, the song starts over so that the music is constant.

Finally, if the user moves the mouse over a particular bubble, detailed information about that country for that year displays at the right. This provides details upon demand without cluttering the main visualization. Here I present data on the population and total sales so that the user can get a better feel for the significance of the bubble. (Perhaps if a country is extremely populous, a genre preference among its citizens is more significant. Or perhaps if a country consumes very little music, its preferences are not so significant.) I also break down the total music sales for that country and year, so that the user can compare genre preferences for that country. Originally, I planned to list the percentages of sales in the different genres, but instead I use a pie chart. The chart uses the same color labelings found in the genre selection buttons to maintain cohesion throughout the visualization. I nonetheless provide abbreviated genre labels because there are so many genres, that it might be hard to remember what a specific color means. And I label the slices with percentages to avoid any misreading.

I include a title at the top so that the user clearly sees the purpose of the visualization. This could help him to interpret the presented data. I also include a legend for size so that the user has a feel for the meaning of the bubble sizes.

 

 

Results and Insights

I found that classical music is consistently popular in Europe. There seems to be a correlation between European culture and classical music consumption. Classical music originated in Europe, so it makes sense that the music would be part of the culture. Because European identity seems to be tied to classical music on some level, it is very likely that people in Europe will continue to consume classical music. The future of classical music in Europe seems safe.

Rock music seems to become an increasingly Western preference. Through the time frame presented, the genre becomes decreasingly popular in the Eastern countries, and increasingly popular in the Western countries. We include Australia as a culturally Western country, and its increasing consumption of Rock music follows this trend as well. Like classical music, it seems that Rock music is correlated to culture. Rock was a Western development, so it is natural that it would become part of Western culture, while it is more of a fad in Eastern culture. It seems that the future of Rock music is safe in Western cultures, but not necessarily in Eastern culture.

Pop music is popular by definition, and the visualization shows the overwhelming extent to which this is true. The bubbles indicating popularity explode, especially in Europe. The overlap of the bubbles in Europe appropriately shows the disproportionate preference that people have for Pop music. Since Pop music is not one genre, but a conglomeration of different types of music, it seems that any genre that can work its way into the mainstream Pop genre will enjoy increased popularity and consumption. Pop music is in no danger of extinction in the near future.

It seems that musicians should be more concerned with the future of genres like Jazz/Blues, Rap/Hip-Hop, and R&B/Urban/Soul than with that of Classical music. These genres are generally less popular than Classical music. Furthermore, from the visualization, we can see that these genres do not seem to be correllated to a particular geographical area or culture. Without a strong cultural significance, these genres have less keeping them alive and are more likely to die out.

 

 

Future Estensions and Improvements

I would add data on many more countries, and over more years. This will give the user a better feel for regional and temporal trends. For example, trends in Asia are not presented. Adding this data would provide a more cohesive map. However, making this improvement might not be possible. I presented all the data that was available to me; finding more data would require contacting private recording companies or recording industries to convince them (perhaps by paying money) to share their data on music consumption.

Another possible development is a mechanism to allow the user to select more than one genre and view information on all of these genres at the same time. This would require some redesign, since simply imposing bubbles on top of each other would be messy and unreadable.

The user might also have the option to animate the scrollbar, so that the dates increase sequentially without the user dragging the bar. This would allow the viewer to completely focus on changes in the map without the physical distraction of moving the scrollbar. (Note that the user can currently move the scrollbar without looking at it if he moves his cursor from side to side along the bar while the mouse is pressed down.)

 

 

To view my visualization, click here.