Come Together: Predictors of Tie Formation in the Popular Music Industry

• In Event: 3551 - Section on Sociology of Culture Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 15. Social Networks and Social Capital

Abstract

This paper analyzes multiple predictors of tie formation among musicians in the popular music industry. Research in the production of culture tradition of sociology emphasizes the importance of structural factors on creativity, and the dynamics of team formation speak to this. Team structures are important in a variety of outcomes, such as popular, peer, and market recognition. As such, I analyze various types of homophily and potential triadic closure in the propensity for two artists to form a tie. I do this using longitudinal, big data collection and employing a repeated discrete-time event history analysis. I find support for the importance of genre as a social signal independent of musical qualities, and evidence of structural effects such as transitivity. The results of this paper and the nature of the data collected show the promise for future research pertaining to network analyses, questions of multiplexity, and the role of categories in career success.

Author

• Danielle E. Montagne, Duke University