New listening in the net? University students’ music consumption and browsing habits

Abstract

This study describes the general trends in music content consumption habits in web browsing from the perspective of university students as a generation immersed in Internet culture. Using descriptive statistics, it is shown what devices or sources they use to listen to music while browsing, what style of music or sound content they listen to, if activities are performed simultaneously, and what forms of listening this digital generation uses in the Internet environment. The most important conclusions are that the technological features of Internet do not influence the chosen style of music as the most popular genres still prevail, but instead determine how to listen and from which channel or technology. At the same time, a young multitasking consumer who uses music as an accompaniment at all times, even off the Internet, is emerging; and simultaneously a hyperpersonalized ‘sonosphere’ or vital soundtrack tailored to each user can be distinguished. This initial picture, hitherto unknown in the approach to music consumption, can contribute to further research that links social networks and digital resources to the kind of listening, the valuation of Internet and its music that young people make from the perspective of audiovisual enunciation, and what implicit values this new generation assumes in online music.