The hedonic music consumption model was created by music researchers Kathleen Lacher and Richard Mizeski in 1994. Their goal was to use this model to examine the responses that listening to rock music creates, and to find if these responses influenced the listener's intention to later purchase the music. The article begins with a discussion of why the issue of music consumption is important. Music is then explored as an aesthetic product, prior to a discussion of what hedonic consumption is, as well as its origins, and concludes with an in-depth look at the model itself.
Music consumption
Music is consumed in a variety of ways, through the radio, television, and internet, as well as through concerts and performances. North and Hargreaves have suggested "record buying is perhaps the ultimate behavioural measure of musical preference, involving the purchaser's time, effort, and money" (p. 282). The study of music purchase and consumption was quite limited as of the early 1990s, as only a few academic studies had investigated this topic at that point in time.
The impact of illegal music downloads and file sharing has again brought the issue of music purchases to the forefront. Much popular press and current academic work is being devoted to this topic. The latest report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) mentions four academic studies in particular (e.g., Zenter, 2003; Liebowitz, 2006; Michael, 2006; Rob & Waldfogel, 2006;) that have examined file-sharing as having a negative impact on the record industry. Not all academics believe to be true however, as the Oberholzer & Strumpf (2004) study brought a different viewpoint to this topic in an article published in the prestigious Journal of Political Economy. These Harvard Business School professors received considerable media attention with the study's conclusion "the empirical evidence on sales displacement is mixed…the papers using actual file-sharing data, suggest that piracy and music sales are largely unrelated" (pp. 24–25).
Music and hedonic consumption
Hedonic consumption was first introduced as an alternative to the traditional consumer behavior model by in the early 1980s. Conventional consumer research has traditionally used the black box approach and has historically analyzed the consumption activities of product categories such as package goods and major consumer durables. Hedonic consumption focuses on products such as the arts, music, and cultural events such as rock concerts, fashion shows and films. These "experience" types of products tend to involve individual preferences that can generate certain emotions, feelings and behaviors.
Music is an aesthetic product as it often provides an emotional or spiritually moving experience specific to an individual. Holbrook also states that music is appreciated primarily for its internal essence as opposed to being viewed strictly as an objective product. However, consumer research literature focusing on these types of products often uses the terms "aesthetic" and "hedonic" almost interchangeably. Charters (2006) points out "hedonic consumption is essentially about pleasure" (p. 240), and that pleasure is but one aspect of the overall aesthetic experience. He also notes that "popular culture works may have ‘layers of meaning' for consumers" as they may convey symbolic meaning for people in significance or emotion of some type. From a retailing standpoint, aesthetic products are characterized as having a wide range of product offerings in the marketplace.
As Hirschman and Holbrook point out, hedonic consumption expands upon the traditional definition of consumer behavior through its inclusion of "the multi-sensory, fantasy and emotive aspects of one's experience with products…including tastes, sounds, scents, tactile impressions and visual images" (p. 92). These types of experience-oriented products often involve "fun, amusement, fantasy, arousal, sensory stimulation, and enjoyment" (p. 37). In addition, hedonic consumption often uses ethnic background, social class and gender to help determine the different consumer emotions and fantasies around a product.