A descriptive analysis of film music enthusiasts’ purchasing and consumption behaviors of soundtrack albums: An exploratory study

Abstract

While a substantial body of research has explored purchasing and consumption behaviors of music consumers, relatively less attention has been devoted toward understanding these behaviors among specific populations of music enthusiasts and sound recording collectors. Using a researcher-designed survey, this exploratory study examined film music enthusiasts’ purchasing and consumption behaviors regarding soundtrack albums. This research indicated no significant differences on whether soundtrack albums were purchased before or after viewing the film of the soundtrack (p > .05). Specifically, some of the most frequent factors reported for purchasing soundtrack albums among film music enthusiasts were based on the composer, watching the film, desire of owning the newly expanded/extended/remastered/reissued edition, and limited pressings/low quantities available for purchase. Findings suggest that film music enthusiasts seem to base soundtrack purchasing decisions on a variety of factors. These purchasing attributes, unique to film music enthusiasts and album collectors, will be discussed in relation to film music record producers’, critics’, and collectors’ assumptive theories and perspectives.

Keywords

film music consumption preference purchasing behaviors record collecting soundtrack albums

Music consumers, enthusiasts, and collectors of sound recordings have a multitude of choices in the types of music they experience in today’s society. These individuals may choose to experience a broad base of genres, styles, and performing artists, while others may choose to focus solely on one category of music. Even more, access to latest advancements in music reproduction technology (e.g., computers, mp3 players, tablets, cell phones) has allowed the consumer greater opportunities to experience their preferred music within various environments (Heye & Lamont, 2010; Sloboda, Lamont, & Greasley, 2009). Regardless, these choices in music can be deferred to specific motivational factors when deciding on which type of music to consume (Trocchia, Apps, & McNish, 2011).

Based on Holt’s (1995) typology model, Trocchia et al. (2011) presented four motivating factors for consuming music: (1) experiencing music purely for self-enjoyment, (2) using music as a vehicle for achieving a goal through goal attainment, (3) socializing in order to enhance interactions with other individuals, and (4) bonding as a form of altering one’s self-image in order to achieve stronger long-term relationships. Music producers and record labels will often address these motivation factors when marketing a particular musical performance or recording album for consumer purchase. It is ultimately the purchaser of sound recordings that must decide which recordings to own and which ones to dismiss. However, these same motivational factors that influence music consumption choices can have an effect on purchasing decisions of sound recordings.

In an effort to determine the causes of sound-recording purchasing behaviors, Lacher and Mizerski (1994) developed a theoretical model, which issued three influential constructs of intended purchasing behavior of sound recordings: (1) affective response, (2) experiential response (the ability to be ‘swept up’ in the music), and (3) need to re-experience the music. In addition to these emotional responses, other purchasing (shopping) behaviors such as perceived knowledge (an illusion of knowing), objective knowledge (knowing based on data supported information), opinion leadership (allowing other individuals’ opinions to influence purchasing behaviors), and enduring involvement (individual relates to a product in support of self-image) have been known to be better predictors for why consumers can be influentially motivated to purchase certain ‘rock-n-roll’ sound recordings compared to demographic variables such as age, social class, and marital status (Flynn, Eastman, & Newell, 1995).

Extrinsic factors, such as opinion leadership and social bonding, especially among the adolescent population, have been considered additional motivators for consuming and purchasing music (North & Hargreaves, 2007; Tarrant, North, & Hargreaves, 2002). Studies have indicated that individuals who listen to a specific type of music tend to show higher social attraction toward other individuals or ‘ingroup’ communities who value and share the same preference in music (Boer et al., 2011; Tajfel, Billig, Bundy, & Flament, 1971). For example, individuals can often seek social bonding experiences with ‘ingroup’ members through the attendance of live music performances. As a recent result of advancements in technology, however, individuals have had the ability to satisfy these same needs with other ‘ingroup’ members and communities through Internet message boards, video conferencing, and social media (Perkins, 2012). These cyber-digital outlets present the necessary tools for music consumers of a specific music genre or artist to interact with others who prefer the same music, often catering toward a phenomenon known as fandom (Lanier & Fowler, 2013).

As an emerging area of research, fandom has been referred to as a ‘psychological symptom of a presumed social dysfunction’ (Jenson, 1992, p. 9), while others have referred to it as a logical consumer strategy focusing on pleasure and identity development in association with an identifiable capital (Stevens, 2010). The capital invested by popular music fans can give these individuals a chance to explore their own identity and culture through facets of the performing artist and music. Whether a participant of live performances or consumer of sound recordings, music ‘fans’ may seek out interpersonal relationships with other music ‘fans’ of a similar nature (Duffett, 2013). As a basis for delineating between these two extreme definitions of fandom, Steven’s (2010) definition could be referred to as a person who is ardently attached to a cause, object, pursuit, or interest, thus, deemed an enthusiast (enthusiast, 2013).

Music enthusiasts may actively participate in collecting sound recording albums to fulfill multiple motivational desires. Through interviews of 67 self-identified sound recording collectors, several attributes such as love of music, obsessive-compulsive behavior, accumulation and completism, selectivity and discrimination, and self-education and scholarship were reported as motivating factors for collecting sound recordings (Shuker, 2004). Using a similar method of grounded theory, Giles, Peitrzykowski, and Clark (2007) were able to establish psychological aspects for collecting sound recordings among CD, mp3, and vinyl sound recording collectors. The majority of participants from both studies were collectors of rock, rap, hip hop, reggae, heavy metal, alternative, jazz, and classical music. In general, these genres of music are typically constructed to serve the listener first and foremost. However, the genre of film music differs with regards to its penultimate purpose of production compared to other music genres.

Filmmakers, composers, theorists, and scholars have stressed that non-diegetic music’s primary purpose is to serve the film (Karlin, 1994). Non-diegetic music, referred to as film music in this study, can be considered music that does not emanate within the narrative world of the film (Gorbman, 1987). As a byproduct of music’s service to film, film music has been isolated and produced as sound recording albums for general listening consumption. Similar to other music genres, film music has attracted film music enthusiasts and collectors over several decades (Maclean, 2000). Although they may share many of the same attributes for consuming, purchasing, and collecting music albums compared to other non-film music collectors, other behavioral attributes may occur toward this genre of music based on its initial purpose of serving the film before serving a listening audience. Pertaining to the listenable music embedded within a sound recording and artifact components such as liner notes, cover art, and jewel casing of an album, the term ‘soundtrack’ will remain equivalent to the term film music album for the remainder of the study. Although a few of the album tracks from a soundtrack can consist of diegetic music (music heard by the characters within the narrative) or film-inspired popular songs, the majority of music found on albums deemed a soundtrack for this study will consist of non-diegetic music for the majority of the album.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate film music enthusiasts’ purchasing and consumption behaviors of soundtrack albums. Film music enthusiasts self-reported several aspects of their soundtrack purchasing and consumption behaviors. Results of the survey strived to determine whether film music enthusiasts purchased soundtracks before or after watching the film, the purpose for purchasing soundtracks, preference for purchasing and listening to soundtracks, and demographic influences on the type of purchased soundtrack albums.

Method

Participants and procedures

A researcher-designed survey using a web-based application, SurveyGizmo.com (Widgix Inc, LLC, Boulder, CO), was made available to film music enthusiasts through film music message board Internet websites (Boer et al., 2011). Film music message boards were chosen as the medium for soliciting participants since they attracted a high volume of film music enthusiasts and album collectors. An invitation to participate in a 10-minute survey was posted on two film music website message boards with a link to the survey (See online Appendix A). Participants were informed that the survey would be open for 4 weeks and asked to complete the survey once.

Of the 168 responses received, a total of 81 volunteer participants completed the survey satisfactorily for a response rate of 48.2%. A survey was deemed satisfactory if each question was answered. Surveys that were incomplete were deemed unsatisfactory. It is assumed that responders of incomplete surveys exercised their right to abandon the volunteer survey, needed more time to complete, or experienced technical problems causing the responder to start the survey over again as evidenced by the missing responses toward the latter part of the survey. The decision to remove incomplete surveys was made in order to strengthen the reliability of results and avoid participants from responding to more than one survey. The sample of completed survey participants consisted of 78 males and 3 females, ranging from 21 to 70 years of age (M = 40.46, SD = 12.15) and 4–60 years’ experience as a film music enthusiast (M = 40.46, SD = 12.15) from five continents (see Table 1).

Table 1.

Participant characteristics as a percentage of the sample.

Characteristic	%(N = 81)
Residing continent
Asia	2.5	(2)
Australia	3.7	(3)
Europe	37.0	(30)
North America	54.3	(44)
South America	2.5	(2)
Film music enthusiast
Yes	100	(81)
No	0	(0)
Film music album collector
Yes	90.1	(73)
No	9.9	(8)

Design

The questionnaire used in this study consisted of three sections. In an attempt to allow participants the opportunity to report reliable data as a function of recency, section one asked participants to recall the five most recent film music albums they had purchased. Film music albums were defined as albums consisting of originally composed music from the film for at least half of the album. This definition would remove compilation albums of previously recorded songs from consideration. In addition, purchased albums had to consist of the entire album. Instructions requested that albums presented as gifts were not to be included unless the participant purchased the album using a gift card or code. Reported data included the film music title, composer, type of media purchased (CD, tape, LP, digital audio file), time of the purchase (before or after watching the film), and the most prominent reason for choosing to purchase the film music album based on: (1) watching the film, (2) the composer, (3) the record label, (4) performing artists, (5) discussions from Internet message boards and other online social media outlets, (6) a critic’s review, (7) ‘on sale’ for below the marked price, (8) limited pressings and/or low quantity alert announcements, (9) listening samples of the music on the Internet or radio, (10) personalized recommendation generated by an Internet retail store (e.g. Amazon.com), (11) an advertisement, (12) hearing a live performance of the music, (13) franchise and/or sequel affiliation, (14) previously owning an older edition, but preferred to own the newly expanded/extended/remastered/reissued edition of the album, or (15) other. Participants were allowed to indicate a reason if other was selected. Afterwards, participants had the opportunity to report secondary reasons for purchasing if applicable.

Section two of the survey collected purchasing preference data. Participants had the opportunity to report whether they considered themselves a film music enthusiast, collector of film music albums, and how many years they claimed to be a film music enthusiast. Next, participants were asked whether they preferred purchasing a film music album before or after watching the film, with a third option of ‘both, before or after, it depends.’ Finally, participants reported their listening preference for film music albums during the first and subsequent listening opportunities in association with listening to the album by itself or within the film. The third section collected data on participant gender, age, and country of residence. The survey concluded with an optional comments section. Data were treated descriptively through the calculation of frequency distribution and correlation statistical tests. Every participant reported her/himself as a film music enthusiast for this study.

Results

Purchasing behaviors

Participants were asked to report their five most recent soundtrack album purchases. For each purchased album, participants indicated whether they purchased the soundtrack album ‘before’ or ‘after’ watching the film. Since each of the 81 participants reported on five albums, the number of responses totaled 405. From the reported purchased albums, 17 of the albums were considered television series based on the title of the album and composer. Therefore, these television albums were dismissed, causing the total number of soundtrack (film music) albums to total 388. Purchased soundtracks consisted of CDs (93.8%; n = 364), digital audio files (5.7%; n = 22), and record LPs (0.5%; n = 2). A chi-square goodness-of-fit test was performed to determine if there were significant differences among whether participants purchased each soundtrack album before or after viewing the film. Results indicated no significant difference, χ²(1) = 3.34, p > .05. Although not statistically significant, participants reported a noticeably higher percentage of album purchases after viewing the film (n = 212) compared to purchasing albums before viewing the film (n = 176) (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Distribution of soundtrack albums purchased before and after viewing the film.

A chi-square test of independence was conducted to determine if there were significant differences among whether participants purchased each soundtrack album before or after viewing the film as a function of total years’ experience as a film music enthusiast. Five ‘years of experience’ groups were created based on 10-year increments: under 10 years (n = 55), 11–20 years (n = 115), 21–30 years (n = 70), 31–40 years (n = 40), and over 40 years (n = 45). No significant differences were found in purchasing behaviors based on experience as a film music enthusiast, χ²(4) = 6.56, p > .05 (see Figure 2). Years of experience seemed to have little influence on whether soundtrack albums were purchased before or after viewing the film. However, a noticeable difference occurred within the sample of enthusiasts with under 10 years of experience compared to the other experienced groups. Enthusiasts with less than 10 years’ experience indicated a noticeably higher percentage of purchased albums before viewing the film, while the more experienced groups indicated a higher percentage of purchased albums after viewing the film.

Figure 2.

Percentages of soundtrack albums purchased before and after viewing the film as a function of years’ experience as a film music enthusiast.

Participants were asked to report their primary reason for purchasing each soundtrack album, choosing from the list in the Design section above. A chi-square test was conducted to determine if there were significant differences among the primary reasons for purchasing a soundtrack album. Results indicated a significant difference, χ²(11) = 631.57, p < .001. The primary reasons chosen most frequently were the composer (n = 146), watching the film (n = 82), and previously owning an older edition, but preferred to own the newly expanded/extended/remastered/reissued edition of the album (n = 51) (see Table 2).

Table 2.

Reported frequency of most prominent reason for purchasing soundtrack albums.

Most prominent reason	% (N = 388)
The composer	37.6	(146)
Watching the film	21.1	(82)
Previously owning an older edition, but preferred to own the newly expanded/extended/remastered/reissued edition of the album	13.1	(51)
Listening samples of the music on the Internet or radio	9.5	(37)
Other	5.7	(22)
Limited pressings and/or low quantity alert announcements	3.1	(12)
‘On sale’ for below the marked price	2.8	(11)
Franchise and/or sequel affiliation	2.6	(10)
Discussions from Internet message boards and other online social media outlets	2.3	(9)
The record label	1.0	(4)
Critic’s review	0.8	(3)
The performing artist	0.3	(1)

Note. An observed frequency response of zero was reported for the following categories: personalized recommendation generated by an Internet retail store, an advertisement, and hearing a live performance of the music. Therefore, these categories were removed from this test.

Due to rounding error, percentages may equal more or less than 100%.

The survey offered the opportunity for participants to indicate secondary reasons, besides the main, primary reason, for purchasing a soundtrack album. Although participants’ frequency of responses differed, all responses were collected and calculated through a second chi-square test, which did not include the primary responses. A chi-square test was conducted to determine if there were significant differences among the secondary reasons for purchasing a soundtrack album. Results indicated a significant difference, χ²(12) = 111.52, p < .001. The secondary reasons chosen most frequently were the composer (n = 48), other (n = 23), previously owning an older edition, but preferred to own the newly expanded/extended/remastered/reissued edition of the album (n = 21), limited pressings and/or low quantity alert announcements (n = 21), record label (n = 21), and listening samples of the music on the Internet, or radio (n = 21) (see Table 3). Participants indicated additional reasons for purchasing film music albums under the ‘other’ category. These reasons included genre, the anticipation of ‘liking’ the music, preference toward the medium of the album, and completion of a collection.

Table 3.

Reported frequency of secondary reasons, other than most prominent, for purchasing soundtrack albums.

Secondary reasons	% (N = 209)
The composer	23.0	(48)
Other	11.0	(23)
Previously owning an older edition, but preferred to own the newly expanded/extended/remastered/reissued edition of the album	10.1	(21)
Limited pressings and/or low quantity alert announcements	10.1	(21)
The record label	10.1	(21)
Listening samples of the music on the Internet or radio	10.1	(21)
Discussions from Internet message boards and other online social media outlets	6.2	(13)
Watching the film	6.2	(13)
Franchise and/or sequel affiliation	5.7	(12)
‘On sale’ for below the marked price	2.9	(6)
A critic’s review	2.4	(5)
The performing artist	1.4	(3)
Hearing a live performance of the music	1.0	(2)

Note. An observed frequency response of zero was reported for the following categories: personalized recommendation generated by an Internet retail store and an advertisement. Therefore, these categories were removed from this test.

Due to rounding error, percentages may equal more or less than 100%.

Purchasing and listening preference

Participants were asked three questions concerning their purchasing and listening preference of soundtrack albums. The first question inquired whether participants preferred to purchase soundtrack albums before or after watching the film. Participants were offered the opportunity to choose one of three replies: (1) preference to purchase before viewing the film, (2) after viewing the film, or (3) both, ‘before or after, it depends.’ A chi-square goodness-of-fit test was conducted to determine participants’ preference toward making soundtrack album purchases based on whether they viewed the film. Results indicated a significant difference, χ²(2) = 72.22, p < .001. The majority of participants (76.5%, n = 62) indicated that they preferred ‘both, before or after, it depends,’ followed by ‘after viewing the film’ (21.5%; n = 17) and ‘before viewing the film’ (2.5%; n = 2) when deciding to purchase a soundtrack album.

A pair of survey questions asked whether participants’ preferred mode of listening to film music was to occur by itself (away from the film) or within the film during a first listening experience and after a first listening experience. Participants had the option to choose their preference of listening to ‘film music by itself,’ ‘film music within the film,’ or ‘it depends, sometimes by itself and sometimes within the film.’ A 2 × 3 chi-square test of independence was calculated to determine if participants’ preference of listening to film music differed between their first listening experience and subsequent listening experiences. A significant difference was found between participants’ preference for listening to film music for the first time compared to listening after the first listening experience, χ²(2) = 49.22, p < .001. Over half of the participants indicated a dependence on other factors when reporting their preference for listening to film music for the first time, suggesting that sometimes they preferred listening to the music by itself and other times with the film. Nearly a quarter of participants preferred to listen to the music by itself during the first listening experience. Conversely, the majority of participants preferred listening to the music by itself, separate from the film, when listening to film music during subsequent listening experiences (see Table 4).

Table 4.

Reported frequency of listening mode preference.

Listening mode	% (N = 81)
First listening experience
Music by itself	24.7	(20)
Music within the film	17.3	(14)
Both, it depends	58.0	(47)
After first listening experience
Music by itself	77.8	(63)
Music within the film	0.0	(0)
Both, it depends	22.2	(18)

Relationship between age and purchased album’s film year release

Another question of interest was to inquire about the relationship between the age of film music enthusiasts and the type of soundtrack albums purchased according to the film’s original year of release. Participants reported the five most recent soundtrack albums purchased by indicating the title of the film and name of the film composer. Referring to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) search engine website (www.imdb.com), each reported film’s year of release was analysed. Three of the albums were compilation albums consisting of film music from multiple decades and were therefore removed from remaining analyses.

A Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to determine the relationship between film music enthusiast age and the purchased soundtrack album based on the film’s original release date. A moderate negative correlation was found, r(383) = −.325, p < .001, indicating a significant linear relationship between the two variables. This result indicates that younger enthusiasts tend to purchase more soundtrack albums from recently-released films, whereas older enthusiasts tend to purchase more soundtrack albums from older films.

Discussion

When exploring the film music experience, one must understand that the manner in which an individual experiences music within a film may not function the same way as listening to the music separate from the film on a sound recording (e.g. CD or mp3). To further clarify this point, Douglas Fake, president of Intrada Records, explains that the artistry within the music from a film can sometimes become misinterpreted as serving a larger purpose than just a pure listening experience (Maclean, 2000). Referencing Elton John’s performance at Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, Fake describes that while there can be a sense of artistry in how Elton John reworked the song ‘Candle in the Wind’ for the funeral, people should still realize that the song was reworked to serve a purpose within the funeral itself. This perspective suggests that as one seeks to understand the music from a film, consideration should be addressed to the manner in which the music functions within the film while avoiding resolutions of the music’s artistry based solely on the listening experience from a sound recording. This unique perspective regarding the genre of film music could have altering effects based on how and why film music enthusiasts purchase and consume soundtrack albums compared to how consumers of other music genres behave. The purpose of the study was to explore these purchasing and consumption behaviors among film music enthusiasts. Many key findings in this study will reference theories and assumptions offered by film music critics, record producers, and album collectors from interviews in a documentary titled ‘Keeping Scores: The Soundtrack Fans’ (Maclean, 2000). Interviewees from the documentary included Andy Dursin, Douglas Fake, Lukas Kendall, R. Mike Murray, and Paul Place.

Soundtrack purchasing behaviors

Results from the current study indicated that while purchasing soundtrack albums after viewing the film was noticeably higher than purchasing before viewing the film among film music enthusiasts, the difference between responses was not statistically significant. One could assume that the majority of album purchasers would wait until after viewing the film before deciding on whether to purchase the album, contrary to the results of this study. However, while most individuals learn about film music through the experience of watching a film, film music critic, Paul Place suggests that ‘eventually you [film music enthusiasts] move away from it and the films become less important’ (Maclean, 2000). Before basing this purchasing behavior on perceived knowledge, which is the illusion of knowing the music without experiencing it within the context of its film (Flynn et al., 1995), Place suggests that there could be other reasons besides watching the film that could influence one’s purchasing behaviors. Based on Place’s assumptions, it could be suggested that novice film music enthusiasts would have a tendency to purchase film music albums after viewing a film, while more experienced enthusiasts could purchase more albums before viewing the film. However, the current results indicated that, while not significant, individuals with less than 10 years’ experience as a film music enthusiast indicated a larger percentage of albums purchased before viewing the film compared to more experienced enthusiasts who indicated a larger percentage of albums purchased after viewing the film. Future research could investigate further whether more experienced enthusiasts choose to purchase soundtrack albums more often after viewing the film or because they have had a longer life span causing them to have more opportunities to have viewed a larger collection of films in their lifetime. Regardless, there seems to be evidence to suggest that film music enthusiasts purchase almost as many soundtrack albums before ever viewing the film as they do after viewing the film.

Among the several motivational factors for purchasing a soundtrack album, film music enthusiasts seem to choose albums based on the composer of the music. As witness to the many behaviors of consumers and collectors of soundtracks, film music critic and record producer Lukas Kendall rationalizes that once a composer of a film has been recognized either in a film or an album, an enthusiast may have a tendency to search for other works by that same composer (Maclean, 2000). Similar to music genre or performing artist preference, enthusiasts will begin to develop preferences toward particular composers, offering a degree of loyalty through objective knowledge by placing purchasing priorities higher for these composers regardless of the reputation or quality of the film for which the music was composed.

Although the majority of enthusiasts’ preferences for purchasing soundtracks or listening to albums for the first time were reported to occur both before and after viewing the film, the majority of enthusiasts indicated a preference toward listening to the film music separate from the film after their first listening experience. Regardless of whether they purchased the music before or after viewing the film, other factors not associated with the composer or music’s interaction with the film could be indicators for why an album is purchased. These factors could then influence enthusiasts’ purchasing behaviors, thus, leading them toward purchasing albums before seeing the film.

In addition to the composer and watching the film, the ability of acquiring a complete, re-mastered or re-issued album was a third prominent factor for purchasing albums among film music enthusiasts, even if they owned a previous issue of the album. It is known among the population of film music fans that many albums do not contain all of the music from the film, only offering the more memorable music cues from the film. Therefore, record labels have recently begun re-issuing albums containing the entire breadth of music from the film in high sound quality. This motivational factor of completism is a trait that has been found among collectors of all objects (Shuker, 2004). In addition to purchasing a film music album to complete a set of albums from a franchise film, the desire for completism could also be referred to the entirety of the music offered from within the original film.

Surprisingly, extrinsic factors such as influential motivation from discussion boards and critic reviews does not have as much impact on purchasing behaviors among film music enthusiasts. Due to the anonymity of Internet communications through discussion boards and social media outlets, pressure from film music enthusiasts to purchase particular albums doesn’t seem to be a factor. The interaction between enthusiasts, therefore, can assist in the decision making process, but allows for anonymity toward which albums an enthusiast purchases, unlike associations with live ‘ingroups’ that report to each other in person (Tarrant et al., 2002). For instance, adolescents associated with one particular ‘ingroup’ may feel obligated to purchase particular albums in order to prove to the ‘ingroup’ that they purchased the same type of music. While enthusiasts may frequent these discussion boards and social media outlets to fulfill certain desires, the data suggest that they have very little direct influence on purchasing behavior. This is not to say, however, that purchasing behaviors based on the composers or notified alerts of limited album pressings are not indirectly influenced by the content that is expressed and shared within these cyber-digital outlets.

Whether an individual is a film music enthusiast or collector of soundtrack albums, purchasing behaviors can be predicated by the ability to re-experience the music at leisure (Lacher & Mizerski, 1994). In addition to the motivational factors for purchasing albums mentioned, critics have observed collectors of soundtrack albums to purchase albums for the sake of owning them as part of their collection. Established soundtrack collector, R. Mike Murray, refers to this behavior as the ‘collector’s curse,’ collecting albums just to collect them (Maclean, 2000). Film music critic, Andy Dursin, establishes with frustration that collectors will tend to purchase albums based on scarcity. The fact of purchasing an album due to its limited pressing and rarity can be enough of a motivational factor for some, regardless of whether they will ever listen to the music contained on that very album. A portion of film music enthusiasts who reported their purchasing behaviors in the current study indicated that primary and secondary reasons for purchasing the album were influenced by the limited pressings or available quantity of the album. Scholars have speculated that the collection of rare objects can be an indication of being an elite collector rather than a ‘casual dabbling collector’ (Belk, 2001, p. 88). Therefore, a soundtrack album collector who acquires the limited pressings and rare albums may be prompted to engage in this purchasing behavior in order to establish a higher position within a hierarchy of soundtrack album collectors, thus, enlarging a sense of self.

The soundtrack album

Over the past decade, several consumer formats for digitally storing music have been made possible by portable mp3 players and cell phone devices. Due to the increasing popularity of legally downloading digital sound recordings instantaneously and privately, music collections have slowly transformed from the physical record format of CDs to the digital format of mp3s among collectors (Friedlander, 2012). However, film music enthusiasts overwhelmingly reported CDs as the primary format for purchasing soundtrack albums. Viewed as both an archive and participatory practice (Giles, Pietrzykowski, & Clark, 2007; Kibby, 2009), soundtrack album collecting may have a greater purpose than just owning the power to control the listening experience.

Many of the newly-released and re-issued albums offered by soundtrack record labels are accompanied by CD booklets containing such cultural artifacts as in-depth liner notes with cue-to-cue music and film descriptions, and attractive art work from the films. In addition to numerous discussions relating to sound recording format preference within social media communities, it could be reasonable to suspect that the extra features associated with a film music CD could be a determining factor for choosing to purchase the packaged artifact of the CDs over just the sole music listening experience from the digital download. Record label producers such as Lukas Kendall understand the desire for high quality sound, detailed track-by-track liner notes, production notes, cover art, and packaging of the soundtrack CD among film music enthusiasts and soundtrack collectors. As a response, Kendall has devoted an entire career toward the production of soundtrack albums by investing in a team of individuals with specific skill sets to assist in the production of high-quality CD soundtracks (Pincus & Petersen, 2009). This reputation of film music record labels could provide perspective as to why over 10% of enthusiasts reported record labels as a secondary reason for purchasing a soundtrack album.

Due to the depth and time invested in collecting soundtrack albums on CD, many collectors may also feel that a change in format could detract from the completism of the very medium in which they collect. Digital music libraries allow the user more control over which song tracks to purchase through online digital music stores such as iTunes. Film music enthusiasts who prefer to own the entire album may feel inclined to purchase the CD album with the understanding that AIFF/WAV audio files can be transferred from the CD into any number of compressed or uncompressed digital audio files. By purchasing the CD compared to downloading digital tracks, the purchaser may feel the CD represents an authentic representation of the music, often the complete music score from a film, a psychological aspect of music purchasing behaviors discovered in a previous study (Giles et al., 2007). Nevertheless, CD purchases can be a strong indicator that enthusiasts prefer ownership of the packaged artifact compared to access of music through downloadable on-line music stores or subscription-based offerings of digital music on the Internet (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, 2012). Future research may choose to investigate these purchasing behaviors if more record labels specifically devoted to the production of soundtrack albums decide to offer digital download options to their customers.

Film music enthusiasts’ demographics and preferences

A final perspective worth investigating can be directed toward the demographics of film music enthusiasts. The majority of volunteer participants were men. This trend in gender among film music enthusiasts and collectors could be influenced by the assumption that the majority of film composers are men (Carlsson, 2005). Although these results do not seem surprising, other factors could be the cause for a male majority of film music enthusiasts.

Throughout popular culture, smaller subcultures devoted to specific leisure activities, hobbies, and entertainment productions have been established. Often associated with comic books and pulp novels, film has also been a natural medium for boys and young men to gravitate toward during their development into manhood. As part of these subcultures, boys will seek out other ‘fanboys’ in pursuit of sharing their fandom of particular interests and hobbies (Bartlett, 2009). Similar to their intrigue into pastimes such as sports (Lever, 1976), baseball card collecting (Sullivan, 2004), and playing video games (Funk & Buchman, 1996), adult males may choose to continue exploration into their fascination with ‘fanboy’ activities. The interest gained in listening and collecting soundtrack albums as a byproduct of the consumption of film could be another reason for the high quantity of male film-music enthusiasts. However, Straw (1997) has identified record collecting, in general, as a male character trait, often associating recoverable behaviors such as bohemianism and hunting directed toward collecting record albums. Therefore, the intrigue of searching out record albums of any genre, including film music, to fulfill a desire of attaining the commodity of other physical objects, could be a primary instigator as to why the majority of volunteer participants who reported themselves as film music album enthusiasts and collectors were male.

There tends to be a wide variation in age range among film music enthusiasts. This study also explored age as a function of purchasing behaviors. First, a relationship was found between age and purchased albums’ original film release dates. Similar to how individuals prefer music that was popular during their youth (Schulkind, Hennis, & Rubin, 1999), the current study discovered younger enthusiasts’ tendency to purchase albums containing music from more recent films and older enthusiasts’ tendency to purchase albums containing music from older films. Although there probably has not been enough time to elapse for younger enthusiasts, the purchase of albums from older films could be a function of nostalgia for older enthusiasts. However, it is unclear as to whether age would be associated with purchasing albums based on nostalgia or other factors such as preference toward the music, film, or composer during a specific era. Due to a lack of dichotomy in purchasing decisions, a qualitative inquiry could present information unique to the purchasing behaviors and age of film music enthusiasts. Secondly, the moderate relationship could suggest that many enthusiasts are open to the possibility of purchasing film music albums from a multitude of eras, regardless of age.

Limitations and future research

The self-report survey method in this exploratory study allowed participants to indicate recent purchasing behaviors during the month of September 2013. This narrow timeframe to collect data limited the breadth and depth of purchasing behaviors that one may report over the course of a year. A trend of purchased soundtrack albums from specific films were apparent based on the multiple purchases reported during the month. For instance, albums from films such Poltergeist II (1986), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Clear and Present Danger (1994) were reported as highly frequent purchases. However, fewer albums from the eras prior to 1960 were re-issued during the month, thus, threatening the external validity of reporting purchased albums across multiple eras. In addition, future studies should strive for a larger sample size among participants.

Based on other factors of purchasing soundtrack albums as reported under the ‘other’ category, an expanded study is needed to investigate film music collectors’ purchasing behaviors. Although not offered as categories, factors such as ‘film genre’ and ‘completion of collection’ were other categories that could have been motivating factors for purchasing film music albums. Future research is needed that incorporates a mixed-design measurement tool to collect data and explore these factors unique to the individual collector. By collecting information from a larger population over a longer span of time, results could encapsulate the behaviors of film music enthusiasts and collectors with more reliability.

It seems that the study of music purchasing and consumption behaviors of subgroup populations can present specified information, particular to the behaviors of sound recording collectors. Shuker (2004) states that record collecting offers a broader base for developing an individual’s social identity and can be considered a ‘central part of the life cycle’ (p. 311). As presented in the results of the current study, the genre of film music presents its own unique characteristics for purchasing and collecting soundtrack albums among film music enthusiasts. More research is needed to explore film music enthusiasts’ social identity development through soundtrack collecting as it relates to socializing and developing long-term relationships with other individuals (Trocchia et al., 2011). Although this study focused on film music, other studies are needed that explore other music enthusiasts’ and album collectors’ behaviors specific to a genre/style of music. It would be interesting to compare film music album collecting behaviors to other non-film music genre collection behaviors. Through similar studies, established theoretical models of record collecting behaviors can be applied to genre-based ‘ingroup’ sound recording collectors (Giles et al., 2007, Shuker, 2004). Further research awaits the influence of the newest audio reproduction technologies on the behaviors of album collectors.

Footnotes

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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