The Symbolic Consumption of Music

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The Symbolic Consumption of Music

Dr Gretchen Larsen (Corresponding Author) King’s College London Department of Management Franklin-Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street London SE1 9NH United Kingdom Phone: +44 20 7848 4630 E-mail: [email protected] Professor Rob Lawson Department of Marketing University of Otago PO Box 56 Dunedin New Zealand Professor Sarah Todd International Office University of Otago PO Box 56 Dunedin New Zealand

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Abstract

The relationship between music, the self/identity and consumption is significant and widely

acknowledged, yet it remains under-researched. To further our understanding of the

symbolic consumption of music, this study evaluates the usefulness of Larsen, Lawson and

Todd’s (2009) conceptual framework of the consumption of music as self-representation,

and presents a revised framework. Twenty-two individuals provided data including in-depth

interviews and participant diaries. The resulting framework details the cognitive and

communicative processes involved in the symbolic consumption of music. It is based on an

evaluation of the level and acceptability of congruency between the image of the music and

the self-concept, both of which are socially-situated. Identity is expressed through a variety

of consumption rituals which allow the individual to ‘own’ or ‘possess’ the associated

meanings. The framework demonstrates that music is a rich and important site of symbolic

consumption, and could also be used in contexts other than music to describe symbolic

consumption.

Keywords: symbolic consumption, self-presentation, music consumption, self-concept,

Biography for each author

Gretchen Larsen is a lecturer in marketing at King’s College London in the United Kingdom.

Her main research areas are in consumer research and arts marketing.

Rob Lawson is professor of marketing at the University of Otago in New Zealand. His main

research areas are in consumer behaviour and marketing theory

Sarah Todd is the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) at the University of Otago in New

Zealand. Her main research area is in consumer behaviour, particularly lifestyles, children as

consumers and ethical/sustainable consumption.

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Introduction

“Music provides a particularly interesting example of modern relations between consumption

and self-identity. Many people report that music plays a very important role in their lives. This

role does not appear to have diminished with industrialization, commodification and the

mass consumption of music: if anything, it has grown” (Hesmondhalgh 2008, p.329).

Listening to, or consuming music constitutes a large and pervasive part of daily life. Music is

consumed in many different ways for a variety of reasons, of which identity creation,

maintenance and communication is, as Hesmondhalgh (2008) notes, particularly interesting

and important. Music, like all products, has the ability to carry and communicate cultural or

symbolic meaning, which is used by individuals in identity construction. This is primarily

because music is a rich and complex symbolic, social and political product which “emerges

as a sort of magical domain that can captivate audiences, provide cathartic and embodied

experiences, and ground identities and communities, but also introduce us to rich exchanges

between peoples while somehow both reifying and subverting power structures” (Bradshaw

and Shankar 2008). Music appears to be a special case of symbolic product. Although music

has been likened to a language (e.g. Cooke 1960), musical meaning is characterised by

paradox. Music is perceived as expressive, yet it “simultaneously eludes analytic attempts to

pin it to semantic corollaries” (DeNora 1986, p.87). Thus, musical meaning is socially

constructed. Social activity constructs meaning, transforming sounds into music (Bowman

1998, Hargreaves and North 1997) and providing symbolic and cultural resources listeners

may mobilise for self-identity making (DeNora 1999, Negus and Velazquez 2002).

Despite the significance of music in contemporary society and consumption practices,

Giesler and Schroeder (2006) suggest that it remains under-researched in consumer

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behavior. In marketing and consumer research, researchers have paid most attention to the

emotion management and aesthetic enjoyment reasons for listening to music (e.g. Cherian

and Jones 1991, Chien, Zhou and Bryant 2007, Kellaris and Kent 1993, Lacher and Mizerski

1994 and North and Hargreaves 1997) and to the choice and purchase of music, particularly

in the digital era (e.g. Coyle, Gould, Gupta and Gupta 2009, Lopez-Sintas, Garcia-Alvarez

and Filimon 2008, Molteni and Ordanini 2003). The existing literature does however also

provide some insights into the music–self-identity relationship, but it focuses on certain

aspects such as presentation of self to self (e.g. DeNora 1999, Holbrook 1986 and Shankar

2000); providing empirical evidence of the use of music as a ‘badge of identity’ (e.g. North

and Hargreaves 1999, Goulding, Shankar and Elliot 2002); the image elements of meaning

transfer (e.g. Hogg and Banister 2000); or the race, nationality or gender elements of identity

(e.g. Negus and Velazquez 2002). Larsen, Lawson and Todd (2009) provide a detailed

insight into how music is consumed to represent the self in social situations. In this study,

Larsen, et. al’s (2009) conceptual framework of the consumption of music as self-

representation is revised and developed.

The objective of this study is to provide a detailed insight into the processes involved in the

symbolic representation of self to others through the consumption of recorded music. Thus,

this study contributes to the literature on the symbolic consumption of music by examining

the presentation of self to others, where the self/identity includes self-concept elements of

identity beyond race, nationality and gender and also all of the processes that might be

involved. This is achieved through a quasi-ethnographic (Elliott 2004) study of music

consumers. In addition, this study also evaluates the usefulness of the framework of the

consumption of music as self-representation (Larsen, et. al. 2009) as an interpretive and

explanatory structure.

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Self-Presentation, the Self and Symbolic Consumption

There are two related areas of consumer research that deal with the relationship between

symbolic meaning and the self and identity: self-concept and symbolic consumption. Both of

these form part of the wider research tradition of consumer culture theory (Arnould and

Thompson 2005). Much of the research on self and identity in consumer research is

psychological in nature (Elliott 2004). From this perspective, the self is viewed as

multidimensional, situational (e.g. Schenk and Holman 1980), can be extended to include

objects (Belk 1988, James 1890) and incorporates all possible selves (Markus and Nurius

1986). The relationship between the self and symbolic meaning can be illustrated using

Baudrillard’s (1994) second order of simulacra. In this order, the public self shown to others

through signs (products) represents the private self, and thus the public self is an

interpretation of what is understood to be a ‘truthful’ inner self. The notions of extended self

(Belk 1988, James 1890) and self/brand image congruency (Grubb and Grathwhol 1967) are

rooted in this conceptualization of the self as essentialist and self-representation.

The notion of symbolic representation can be viewed as problematic. It implies a rationalist

approach, where meanings are fixed, thus “representation refers to the existence of a

finished product in any media whose ostensibly ‘correct’ meaning is accessible to all.

‘Discourse’ and ‘dialogue’ refer more narrowly to the transactive approach in language,

whereby meaning is socially constructed by readers, writers and those written about” (Stern

1998). Stern was referring to how consumer experience can be represented in research, but

the same issues apply when discussing self-representative acts of consumption. The shift to

a socially constructed and negotiated notion of meaning underlies Baudrillard’s (1994) third

order of simulacra, where the signs (products) no longer represent the person, they become

the person.

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Symbolic consumption generally refers to consumers’ use of the symbolic meaning

embodied in products to construct, sustain and express their selves/identity and to locate

them in society (e.g. Levy 1959, Elliott 1994, Wattanasuwan 2005). This field is rooted in

sociology and anthropology and consequently views identity as a situated social practice.

Symbolic consumption research focuses on aesthetic consumption (e.g. Holbrook 1980,

Holbrook and Hirschman 1982), communicative properties of products (e.g. Holman 1980,

1981, Kehret-Ward 1987), meaning transfer and consumption rituals (e.g. McCracken 1986,

Rook 1985), product constellations (e.g. Fuat Firat 1987, Hogg and Mitchell 1997),

memories (e.g. Nguyen and Belk 2007) and product meanings (e.g. Kates 2003, Thomsen

and Sorensen 2006). Two further areas of research relevant to this study are factors that

influence symbolic consumption – the psychological characteristics of self-monitoring (Auty

and Elliott 1997, Hogg, Cox and Keeling 2000) and the characteristics (Belk 1975) and role

of situation (e.g. Hogg and Savolainen 1997, Solomon 1983). Recently, Elliott (2004) has

used the notion of ‘communities of practice’ (Lave and Wenger 1991) to conceptualise the

identity of the socially situated self integral to symbolic consumption as a continual process

whereby a unique identity is gained through mutual social engagement and shared

repertoires. These identities form trajectories that have a coherence which connects the

past, present and future, but are characterized by “continuous motion as we are constantly

negotiating our identity through social practices” (Elliott 2004 p.133). Thus there is some

continuity in identity, but it is primarily socially situated, which should be reflected in symbolic

consumption practices.

Taken together, symbolic consumption and self-concept provide insights into the how

(processes) and why (motivations) of self-symbolic consumption practices. The literature

suggests that investigating the symbolic meanings of products is fruitless, as the meanings

are fluid and ever changing. However, the interesting question remains of the processes

involved in symbolic consumption. The significant, but highly socially situated meaning of

music makes it a fertile ground to explore these practices. Larsen, et. al (2009) present a

framework of the consumption of music as self

towards examining the symbolic consumption of music.

Figure 1 Conceptual Framework of the

Figure 1 presents a graphical representation of the

the comparison of the individual’s image of their preferred music and

self. Three consumption options exist

consumption and self-representative consumption. Music could represent the self either

when the comparison is acceptable (

some aspect of the presentational

congruent but unacceptable such as with disliked music). An acceptable or unacceptable

comparison can also result in the mus

manner (i.e. without reference to the self) or not at all. Various situational factors relate to the

framework of the consumption of music as self-representation, which is an initial step

towards examining the symbolic consumption of music.

Conceptual Framework of the Consumption of Music as Self-Representation

(Source: Larsen, Lawson and Todd, 2009, p.24)

Figure 1 presents a graphical representation of the framework. The basis of the f

the comparison of the individual’s image of their preferred music and their presentational

consumption options exist – no consumption, non-self-representative

representative consumption. Music could represent the self either

when the comparison is acceptable (e.g., when the image of the music is congruent with

presentational self) or unacceptable (e.g. when the comparison is


comparison can also result in the music being consumed in a non-self-representative


representation, which is an initial step

Representation

(Source: Larsen, Lawson and Todd, 2009, p.24)

. The basis of the framework is

their presentational

representative

representative consumption. Music could represent the self either

when the image of the music is congruent with

self) or unacceptable (e.g. when the comparison is


representative


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evaluation of image congruency, with people based and music based factors relating more

closely to the presentational self and musical preferences respectively. Situation also relates

to self-monitoring, musical involvement, recent listening patterns and access to music.

Consumption rituals such as singing with the music, dancing to it, consuming other related

paraphernalia or knowledgeably discussing the music, enhance the authenticity of the self-

representation. Finally, the feedback received regarding the consumption behaviour feeds

back into future self-representative consumption of music.

Method

Exploring the symbolic consumption of music requires getting close to peoples lived reality.

Given the complexity of symbolic consumption and the disruptive influence of a participant

observer on social interaction, a quasi-ethnography (Elliott 2002, 2004) is appropriate. Data

was collected through in-depth interviews and participant diaries.

Participants were sought who were aged between 18 and 24. The literature suggests that

individuals form both their self-concept (Dobson, Hardy, Heyes, Humphreys and Humphreys

1981) and musical preferences (Holbrook and Schindler 1989) between these ages. This is

supported by previous work in this field which clearly demonstrates that the self and identity

are particularly important characteristics of music consumption for youth (e.g. Bennett 2000,

Frith 1978). Thus, the symbolic consumption of music should be especially important and

salient in this age group. Guided by a pattern matching approach (e.g. Hyde 2000, Wilson

and Wilson 1988), participants were sought whose experiences should either support or

challenge the framework. In total 22 participants were included in the study. All participants

were screened and selected to provide potentially contrasting experiences regarding the

different aspects of level of interest in music, access to music and levels of self-monitoring.

Zaichowsky’s (1994) Revised Personal Involvement Inventory and Snyder’s (1974) Self-

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Monitoring Scale were used in the screening process to indicate levels of interest in music

and self-monitoring of potential participants.

Two in-depth interviews were undertaken with each participant, one before and one after the

four-week participant diary period. The first interview sought to gain an understanding of the

participant, their self-concept and music consumption practices. The participant diary was

designed to capture the participants lived experiences of the symbolic consumption of music

in social situations. The final interview provided an opportunity to further explore the diary

entries and discuss other instances of the symbolic consumption of music not covered in the

participant diary. Data from the two interviews and the participant diaries was collated and

then examined independently by three reviewers to evaluate how well the framework

explained the data for each participant. The three reviewers comprised on one of the authors

and two postgraduate students specialising in consumer research. The next section

discusses the findings in relation to themes suggested by the conceptual framework of the

consumption of music as self-representation.

Findings and Discussion

Of the 22 participants, twelve were males and 10 were female, and a large number (18)

were students. This is primarily a consequence of the age parameter and the location of the

study, which was a university city in New Zealand. Details about each participant are

provided in Table 1. The remainder of this section discusses the findings in relation to the

themes: self/brand image congruency, the self, musical preferences, situation, individual

factors (self-monitoring and involvement) and consumption rituals. Each theme is illustrated

with quotes from the data. Music can be consumed in a non-symbolic manner, and the

symbolic consumption of music is not independent of other reasons for consuming music.

However, data is only included if it describes or is related to the symbolic consumption of

music.

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Table 1: Participants

No. Name Age Occupation Self Monitoring Involvement Access 1 David 20 Student – Science Low High Open 2 Michael 21 Student – Humanities High High Open 3 Robert Early

20’s Student – Teaching Low High Limited

4 Joshua 24 Store Manager High High Open 5 Megan Early

20’s Student – Humanities High High Limited

6 Adam 23-24 Musician Low High Limited 7 Matthew 22-23 Student – Business Low High Open 8 Christina 20 Student – Arts Low High Open 9 Anthony 20 Student – Arts Low High Open 10 Tom 22 Various part time jobs High High Open 11 Tiffany 20 Student – Science

and Business High High Open

12 Kate 20 Student – Arts High High Open 13 Steven 23 DJ + Student – Arts High High Open 14 James 20 Student – Arts and

Business High High Open

15 Jonathan 19 Student – Sports High High Limited 16 Amanda 18-19 Student – Science Low Low Limited 17 Justin 25 Musician + Student –

Phys Ed High High Open

18 Rebecca 21-22 Student – Business Low Low Open 19 Emily 20 Student – Arts and

Business Low High Limited

20 Rachel 21 Student – Business and Science

Low Low Open

21 Danielle 21 Student – Business High Low Limited 22 Stephanie 21 Student – Business Low Low Limited

Self/Brand Image Congruency

Prior research on the self/brand image congruency hypothesis (Grubb and Grathwohl 1967)

reports varied results, which bring into question the relevance of the hypothesis to consumer

behaviour (Sirgy, Johar, Samli and Claiborne 1991). This questioning is particularly pertinent

when viewing symbolic consumption as socially constructed, as the self/brand image

congruency hypothesis relies on an essentialist definition of the self-concept. However, the

conceptual framework of the consumption of music as self representation suggested that

self/brand image congruency lies at the centre of self-representation through music, albeit an

extended version of Grubb and Grathwohl’s (1967) original hypothesis. In stating that people

strive to achieve congruency between their self-concept and the images of the

brands/products they consume, the image congruency hypothesis inherently suggests that

the self is one-dimensional and stable, and that only a positive congruency can exist.

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However, the framework indicates the possibility of congruency between the image of the

music and all manner of possible selves that may come to exist in certain situations. For

example, an avoidance (or past) self may be manifest, which would be expressed in the

choice of music as ‘distastes’ (Bourdieu 1979/1984, Wilk 1997).

In this study, data from all participants suggested that that extended self/brand image

congruency does perform well as a basis for the framework. Some participants explicitly

referred to the congruency between the image they wished to present and that of the music

they chose. For example, Michael (participant 2) described a situation where he was

receiving a visit from the person who had rented his house before him. This person had left

some of his possessions in the house and was coming to collect them. Michael was

uncomfortable about the situation, as he knew this person had been in trouble with the

police. The role of the music, according to Michael, was to lessen the need for conversation

but also to provide him with a “sense of security”. The music he chose was Che Fu,

Chemical Brothers and Extreme de Crecy, as Michael “very much needed music with good

rhythms, bass lines and riffs that makes cool impressions on people”. Michael deliberately

chose music that positioned him as someone different from his visitor, and in fact also from

the general population:

“Well I sort of put it on and also a showy-off thing, you know. ...like I saw his music

collection because he didn’t move his stuff out for ages and he had loads of real, real

heavy music. Very specific, hardcore, thrashy metal – he was in a band and stuff,

that sort of band. So I thought, put on something cruisy. But not like Bob Marley or

Ben Harper, because that would be too mainstream”.

Sometimes participant’s music choices reflected a group identity rather than an individual

one. In Christina’s (participant 8) case, the meaning of the music reflects both the group

identity of her relationship and an idealised or fantasy group identity of being a band

member. She said:

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“it [the music] makes me want to play my guitar! It’s exactly the type of stuff I would

play if I was in a band. I like listening to punk with my boyfriend as it’s something

we’ve got in common, can talk about it in depth, discuss why we like particular songs.

I guess that we would both feel that it reflects ourselves best, music we most relate

to”.

So far, the data provided are all examples of situations where the self/brand image

congruency was both congruent and acceptable. Situations where the self/music image was

congruent but unacceptable still provides support for self/image congruency. This most

commonly occurs when the congruency is between the image of the music and some aspect

of the negative self (e.g. the undesired self or the avoidance self (Banister and Hogg 2001))

and is manifested as ‘distastes’ (Bourdieu 1979/1984, Wilk 1997). The result is that music is

either not consumed or consumed in a way that disassociates the consumer with the music,

which was often observed by participants in others. Megan (participant 5) described a friend

who:

“likes some music, and some of my other friends are quite – I guess, they’re quite

easily swayed by whatever is being played most on the radio, and they’ll listen to J-

Lo. If everyone is hanging out together at night time and having a few drinks

whatever, they’ll put on J-Lo, and this friend will be so awful about it. Just judgmental,

like ‘I don’t want to listen to it’”.

There was little or no support however, for the relationships outlined in the framework

between acceptable congruency and non consumption, or either acceptable/unacceptable

and non-symbolic consumption, suggesting that almost all music consumption is symbolic.

This data provides support for the continued use of the self/brand image congruency

hypothesis as a basis of symbolic consumption and subsequent theory development. This

accounts for the socially situated nature of symbolic consumption when the following,

underlying conditions are met: the congruency is based on the presentational self concept;

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where the presentational self concept is selected from amongst all possible selves; different

combinations of outcomes are considered based on both the level of congruency and the

acceptability of the congruency; and situational influences are accounted for.

Self Concept

The data from this study supports the conceptualisation of the self-concept that is: (a) multi-

dimensional, (b) situational (Schenk and Holman 1980) (c) extended (Belk 1988, James

1890), and (d) includes all possible selves (Markus and Nurius 1986) as presented in the

framework. People construct and present different aspects of themselves in different

situations. These self-representations include the full range of possible selves (from negative

selves to approach, future selves). The situation influences the person’s decision of how to

construct and present him/herself, which is not surprising given that situation is inherent in

the notion of the presentational self (Goffman 1959, Rosenberg 1979).

What is interesting to observe, is that people-based situational characteristics are more

salient than other situational factors in constructing and presenting the self. The image the

participant held of the other people in the situation was influential in their own symbolic

consumption, particularly in situations where the other person is not well known. Christina

(participant 8) provides an illustration of this:

“But we moved in with two random guys who we’d never met before. And the first

time – sort of around this occasion – the first time we met them – they seemed kind

of conservative and I was like: oh no, I don’t want to scare them [by playing punk

music]. But no, they’re cool with things now. They don’t really like it but they’re

comfortable enough to like give me like shit about it, so it’s okay”.

Also important is the relationship between the participant and the others in the situation.

Matthew (participant 7) describes a situation where he was hoping to change the nature of

the relationship between himself and some attractive females who were in his company:

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“The group of people I was with, they’re quite --- I think they’ve been brought up

pretty proper and I don’t think they were brought up listening to that sort of music

[Rage Against the Machine]. If that had come on they would have wondered what the

hell is going on and probably walked off. Or asked for it to be changed.[…] And there

was probably --- there was a couple of chicks there that I was sort of talking to and I

was quite interested – and it’s not a good idea to play it, play the safe option

[Chemical Brothers]. ... for some unknown reason I was probably conscious of them

– that when the song came on they would have known who’d chose it”

Closely related to this is the role participants perceive they have within the group. Anthony

(participant 9) a contemporary music student, often chose music that he believed his friends

had not heard before in order to introduce them to something new. “’Cause like my friends

hadn’t heard that kind of thing before. And like they could hear something different and they

actually liked it, so it was quite good”. He felt accepted when they liked the music he played

to them.

The final people-based situational characteristic that emerged as being very important is the

current or expected mood. Much support was provided for the use of music to manage and

change moods, as detailed by DeNora (1999) and to negotiate the transition between

different social spaces. For example, David (participant 1) described a situation where he,

his housemates and friends were having a few drinks before going out for the evening. They

were listening to music to help them get in the mood for the evening ahead. David selected a

range of music to listen to, most of which was heavy metal. He said “we listened to music...to

get us charged before we went into town. ...Wanted music that was fast, to get us amped up

before we went into town”.

These findings provide support for the framework and suggest that an appropriate fit

between the presented self, musical preferences and others is of utmost importance in the

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symbolic consumption of music. Other situational factors such as physical surroundings may

still be important, but only at a secondary level.

Musical Preferences

This study focuses on the symbolic consumption of music; however, the framework also

incorporates other reasons for consuming music. Hargreaves and North’s (1999) ‘symbolic

representation’, ‘emotional expression’, and ‘aesthetic enjoyment and entertainment’

reasons for listening to music, map onto the fantasy, feelings and fun elements of Holbrook

and Hirschman’s (1982) experiential consumption. The framework incorporates ‘feelings’

and ‘fun’ as the situational factors ‘mood’ and ‘role of music’ respectively, which illustrates

that musical preferences can fulfil multiple goals simultaneously. ‘Mood’ was discussed in

the previous section, and support was also found for the consideration of the role of music in

a symbolic consumption situation. Michael (participant 2) described an evening where a

seductive mood was required, but where the music needed to play a ‘sonic wallpaper’

function. “Interviewer: So you just wanted to choose something that you both liked? Michael:

Hmm...yeah. Something with the right sort of mood as well – you know not too noticeable,

but still pretty good music. Otherwise I would not put on any at all”

The music-based situational factors were more influential than people-based factors on

participant’s music preferences. There is an overall desire to select music that is likely to be

known to, and appreciated by, all of the people sharing the music listening experience. This

could indicate the existence of a shared repertoire, which is available within a community of

practice, and used by individuals as a resource for continued identity construction process

(Elliott 2004). Participants comprehended the specific repertoire by considering their

perceptions of others’ familiarity with music, others’ musical preferences if known, and how

others would perceive various types of music. For example, Megan (participant 5) said:

“I think I tend to be more careful than some of my other friends because I don’t feel

so strongly about music as some of my other friends. And they’ll just be like ‘no, I’m

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not listening to this anymore. And they’ll put on stuff that not everyone will like,

whereas I tend to think ‘okay, well the bulk of the people here are not going to like

this, so I’ll pick something else that I like, and they are more likely to be at least able

to listen to without gritting their teeth’”

In addition to the consideration of others tastes and knowledge, participants provided a

number of examples where social norms indicated what musical preferences were

appropriate. A typical example is provided by James (participant 14) who, in planning for his

and his girlfriend’s first dinner party, decided that “being a semi-classy dinner and just the

four of us, music that is normally played at raves and other dance parties was off the list”.

The framework suggested that the music an individual chooses from their overall tastes (i.e.

their musical preferences) is related to access to music and recent listening patterns. No

support for these associations was found in this study, which initially seems surprising.

However, the music-based situational variables discussed above are related to musical

preferences, and it may therefore be that the situation itself may be so important that

individuals do not think outside of what is available to them in that situation. This may also

explain the lack of influence of recent listening patterns. An individual may still consume

music with which they are bored because that music best caters to the nature of the

situation.

Individual Factors: Self-Monitoring and Involvement

Both the literature and the framework of the consumption of music as self-representation

suggested that self-monitoring would have an important relationship to situational influence

on self/musical image congruency and feedback received. The framework, but not the

symbolic consumption literature, also identified a relationship between involvement with

music and the evaluation of the level and acceptability of self/music image congruency. Self-

monitoring and involvement are generally thought to mediate consumption behaviour, thus

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the individual’s symbolic consumption of music should also differ according to their level of

self-monitoring and involvement with music. This study however suggests a very different

situation. The interviews and participant diary did not provide any data describing a

relationship between either self-monitoring or involvement with music consumption. In

addition, all participants, including those whose levels of self-monitoring and involvement in

music suggested that they would be less likely to symbolically consume music, provided

data supporting the conceptual framework. A possible explanation for these results is that

the participant’s level of self-monitoring and involvement with music are, in themselves,

situationally based. The participant diary covered a range of music consumption situations in

which the participant’s level of self-monitoring and involvement often varied, thus each

participant could represent some high and some low levels of both according to the situation.

Consumption Rituals

Consumption rituals are an important part of symbolic consumption as they transfer cultural

meaning from the product to the individual consumer (McCracken 1986). Belk, Wallendorf

and Sherry (1989), McCracken (1986) and Rook (1984, 1985) identify types of consumption

rituals. In this study, data provides support for two consumption rituals that reinforce the

symbolic consumption of music. The first of which is interaction with music by singing along

with it, or dancing to it. Matthew (participant 7) provided an earlier example of choosing

music in an effort to impress the females in his company. In describing this further, he

illustrates how rituals such as dancing to the music are an important part of associating the

music to the self.

“I don’t want to sound cocky or anything but I’ve been told by a few people that I’m

actually not a bad sort of dancer for that particular music, so I knew I could dance

alright to that so yeah. To be honest that probably came into my thoughts as well. I

suppose I wanted to make myself look good in front of other people. Yeah. Basically I

knew that I’d be alright with that [music] so that sort of did give me a bit of

confidence.”

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The second ritual that supports the symbolic consumption of music is the knowledgeable

discussion of the music. Most of the examples of this were situations where the participant

perceived their role in the group as that of an opinion leader or expert on music. Anthony

(participant 9), the contemporary music student described a situation where he was

socialising with a few friends before going out to watch some bands play. They were

listening to and discussing music. Anthony wanted to play “The Meters Jam” album for his

friends, as his friends had not heard it before. He said “they were loving it. It’s very rare

music to find in New Zealand and I got a super rare one from the library. It was a bit of a

treat. We ended up talking about The Meters the whole time they were playing”, thus

providing an opportunity for Anthony to reinforce his identity as a music expert.

The rituals described here fit within McCracken’s (1986) possession rituals. Simply being

seen to put on the music is not enough to transfer the cultural meaning associated with the

music to the self, the participant needs to perform a ritual that demonstrates their ownership

or possession of that particular musical preference or distaste.

Conclusions

The aim of this research has been to provide a detailed insight into the symbolic

consumption of music, and in doing so, evaluate the effectiveness of the framework of the

consumption of music as self-representation (Larsen, et. al. 2009) as an explanatory

structure. Overall, the conclusions of the study do provide support for the usefulness of the

framework, albeit with some refinements (see Figure 2) for assisting in understanding the

symbolic consumption of music. Thus, we contribute to the literature on the consumption of

music by detailing the cognitive and communicative processes involved in individuals’ use of

music to construct and present their identity to others, when this identity comprises not only

demographic dimensions of identity such as gender, ethnicity and nationality, but also the

self-concept. At the same time, it also demonstrates that music is a rich and important site of

symbolic consumption. Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) ide

‘aesthetic’ products, as a product where the symbolic role is particularly salient, a notion that

remained unconfirmed prior to this study. Although this research focuses only on the

symbolic consumption of music, it also sh

process e.g., mood (emotional expression) and the role of music (aesthetic enjoyment and

entertainment). Therefore, it is appropriate to think of the consumption of music as an

interplay of functions.

Figure 2 Framework of the Symbolic Consumption of Music

A number of more general implications for symbolic consumption theory also emerge from

this study. The data provides full support for a socially situated and constructed account of

symbolic consumption, however this account draws on a combination of revised concepts

from both fields of self-concept and symbolic consumption. The notion of self/brand image

congruency remains an important element of symbolic consumption, but only when

reconceptualised to account for the socially constructed nature of both the self

symbolic consumption. Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) identified music, along with other



symbolic consumption of music, it also shows that other functions of music play a part in the



Framework of the Symbolic Consumption of Music



ion, however this account draws on a combination of revised concepts

concept and symbolic consumption. The notion of self/brand image


o account for the socially constructed nature of both the self-

ntified music, along with other



ows that other functions of music play a part in the





ion, however this account draws on a combination of revised concepts

concept and symbolic consumption. The notion of self/brand image


20

concept/identity and musical meaning. The data also indicated that ‘communities of practice’

(Lave and Wenger 1991) might play a role in the symbolic consumption of music. As

suggested by Elliott (2004), ‘communities of practice’ offer a useful conceptualisation of

identity of the socially situated self which could be a very fruitful path for further investigation

of symbolic consumption.

Perhaps the most important implication is the overriding importance of situation, and the

resulting simplicity of the framework of the symbolic consumption of music. Individual factors

such as access to music, previous listening patterns, involvement and self-monitoring were

not supported, and the explanation suggested by the data is that these factors are, in

themselves, situational. It is also possible that the importance of situation may arise from the

nature of the study group and the transitional stage of life they are in, as they appear to have

a playful and experimental approach to identity. This is clearly an area requiring further

research to understand the changes experienced in this life stage and how personality

constructs that should be stable, such as involvement and self-monitoring, actually develop.

In conclusion, our research strongly supports the framework of the symbolic consumption of

music, even in the case of participants who theoretically should have exhibited very little, if

any symbolic music consumption practices. This is not to say that all consumption is

symbolic, as consumption situations were reported where there was little, or no, evidence of

reference to the self. However, the ensuing conclusion of the study is that everybody is

capable of symbolically consuming music. The resulting framework not only provides a good

explanation of the symbolic consumption of music, but is of generic character and therefore

could be transferred into other contexts, for example clothing choices, in order to gain further

understanding of the socially situated nature of identity construction and presentation

through consumption.

21

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The Symbolic Consumption of Music