Separating the art from the artist: The role of narratives on music enjoyment and appreciation

Abstract

This study tests the effect to which narratives influence the enjoyment and appreciation of popular music. Two experiments tested how narratives about artists influenced listener perception of their songs. Experiment 1 found that narratives about artists influence how their music is appreciated and enjoyed. Experiment 2 found that this influence was due to narratives increasing how much listeners like the artist and desire to see them succeed. The increase in enjoyment and appreciation was stronger for songs that were not as well-liked to begin with. The results suggest that narratives about creators may influence the perception of their work.

Keywords

communication narrative emotion engagement psychometrics popular music randomized controlled trials

Narratives are a pervasive form within the media as they provide an effective way to engage an audience (Braddock & Dillard, 2016; Green & Brock, 2000; Hinyard & Kreuter, 2007; Shen et al., 2015). The role and function of media narratives have largely been observed in entertainment, as the majority of film, television, and literature within the United States contain a narrative structure (Appel & Richter, 2007; Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009; Slater et al., 2006). As recent theorizing has begun to tease out the relationship between entertainment narratives on subsequent appreciation and enjoyment, we offer a new perspective to this literature by examining the media of popular music.¹

Unlike other forms of entertainment media, music has the unique property of portraying distinct narratives across two different dimensions: the narrative of the artist and the narrative of the song. That is, a song can deliver a narrative through its lyrics, but there is also a broader related narrative surrounding the artist and the meaning behind the song. Because narratives have been found to influence the audience experience, it is possible that the narrative of the performing artist and the performance of the song may influence the appreciation and enjoyment of it. We employ two experiments to test the effects of narratives regarding performing artists (Experiment 1) and the role transportation and affective relationships may play (Experiment 2). Our findings provide further theoretical understanding into narratives’ role in entertainment consumption and practical implications for how narratives can enhance the musical experience.

Entertainment as enjoyment

Entertainment media have a long tradition in being studied for the hedonic value, otherwise understood as enjoyment or the elicitation of a pleasant state (Raney, 2004; Vorderer et al., 2004; Zillmann et al., 2000). Enjoyment often alludes to the “entertain” part of entertainment, where the goal is to engage the audience in a pleasurable experience (Zillmann, 1988). Thus, entertainment is consumed and sought for its ability to please the consumer, and much research have been conducted to establish enjoyment as a principal motivator of entertainment consumption (Green et al., 2004; Raney, 2003; Vorderer et al., 2004).

Theories on entertainment media, namely, mood management theory (Zillmann, 1988, 2000) and disposition theory (Raney, 2003, 2004; Zillmann & Bryant, 1986), have integrated this approach by proposing that entertainment is consumed and enjoyed due to the affective state it elicits. Mood management theory stipulates that entertainment is physiologically arousing and, therefore, consumed as a process of regulating or maintaining one’s current affective state (Zillmann & Cantor, 1977). Entertainment then serves to sustain positive moods and improve negative ones by providing an appeasing narrative. Yet, the process of media consumption is continuous. It does not simply stop at the selection phase but continues further into the response elicited by the selection, that is, the response one feels during and after consuming the selected media.

To address the continual process of enjoyment, disposition theory proposes certain media to be enjoyed more than others due to audiences’ feelings toward the characters (Raney, 2003, 2004; Zillmann & Bryant, 1986; Zillmann & Cantor, 1977). Thus, enjoyment is “a function of a viewer’s affective disposition toward characters and the storyline outcomes associated with those characters” (Raney, 2004, p. 349). Audiences will enjoy entertainment more if well-liked characters receive positive outcomes than if they endure negative ones. Traditionally, one’s affective disposition toward a character has been thought to derive from empathy toward the characters’ depiction of morality and virtuousness (Raney, 2004).

However, the emergence and popularity of media featuring morally ambiguous characters who repeatedly commit immoral acts but are still celebrated by critics and audiences (e.g., Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones) have necessitated broader criteria for affective dispositions to form and maintain (Eden et al., 2017; Jonason et al., 2012; Krakowiak & Oliver, 2012; Krakowiak & Tsay, 2011).

Despite the differences between what mood management and affective disposition explain, both rely on enjoyment as a principal outcome of entertainment consumption. That is, media is selected and consumed to bring a positive affect state. Yet, accumulating evidence suggests that enjoyment is only one aspect of why entertainment is consumed (Oliver & Bartsch, 2011; Oliver & Raney, 2011; Tamborini et al., 2010, 2011; Wirth et al., 2012). Some entertainment is undoubtedly experienced for pure enjoyment, but not all entertainment media results in a positive mood. Numerous films, shows, and songs depict tragic and troubling events but still achieve widespread success in the box office and popularity charts. Drama films regularly receive critical awards, songs ranging from those about romantic woes to murder ballads have dominated music charts, and crime dramas consistently rank as highly watched television shows. Although highly consumed, these media do not bring a positive, emotional state as normally conceptualized when defining enjoyment.

Entertainment as appreciation

Rather, it has been put forth that entertainment is also consumed as a function of fulfilling non-hedonic, or eudemonic, needs (Oliver & Bartsch, 2011; Tamborini et al., 2010; Vorderer et al., 2004). This outcome of entertainment, often called appreciation, is largely based on self-determination theory, which proposes people being motivated by universal intrinsic needs such as autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 2008; Ryan & Deci, 2000). People want to feel like they are in control of their own life (autonomy), successful in some way (competence), and connected and cared for by others (relatedness). So, whereas enjoyment may pertain to the immediate response an entertainment program may bring, appreciation occurs when a person feels they are more self-enhanced due to the experience (Oliver & Bartsch, 2011; Vorderer et al., 2004).

Oliver and Bartsch (2011) conducted three studies in order to distinguish appreciation from enjoyment. They tested three potential dimensions of appreciation: profound meaning, artistic value, and lasting impact. Profound meaning being most reflective of appreciation as a whole, defined as when a person feels moved by a particular entertainment program. Artistic value being the level of talent or insight perceived about the work’s creator, and lasting impression being how long the person feels the work will impact their thoughts, emotions, or behaviors. Although artistic value was not found to be distinguishable from the other two, profound meaning and lasting impacts were discrete from the pleasurable experiences usually found as a motivator of entertainment.

The role of narratives on enjoyment and appreciation

Despite the differences between enjoyment and appreciation as a product of the entertainment experience, both constructs share a heavy reliance on narratives. Narratives are the underlying foundation of most entertainment media and largely thought to be responsible for the enjoyment and appreciation derived from it (Slater & Rouner, 2002).

Extant research have examined the psychological and behavioral impact of narratives due to its pervasiveness in interpersonal and mediated communication (Cohen, 2001; Green & Brock, 2000; Moyer-Gusé, 2008). For example, narratives have been found to influence consumer information processing (Adaval & Wyer, 1998), policy-making (Boswell et al., 2011), judicial decision-making (van Dunne, 1996), and risk decision-making (Steinhardt & Shapiro, 2015). Within the field of communication, narratives have largely emerged as a strong vessel for facilitating persuasion (Moyer-Gusé & Nabi, 2010; Slater & Rouner, 2002): narratives have shown to effectively influence attitudes, social norms, and behaviors for health (Hinyard & Kreuter, 2007), environmental (Shanahan et al., 1999), and advertising (Escalas, 1998) outcomes.

Narratives do so through a variety of mechanisms, most notably by allowing audiences to be transported into the storyline and form affective relationships with the depicted characters (Slater & Rouner, 2002). Indeed, much research has been dedicated to explicating how these processes occur (Green, 2004; Green & Brock, 2000; Murphy et al., 2013). Whereas transportation into the narrative has often been defined as when a person becomes so absorbed into a message that he or she loses sense of her own surroundings (Green & Brock, 2000), understanding affective relationships with a character has been harder to define (Cohen, 2001; Moyer-Gusé, 2008). At the most general level though is the basic evaluation of the character, or character liking (Cohen, 2001; Hoffner & Cantor, 1991). Both transportation and affective relationships have shown to positively predict enjoyment (Green et al., 2004; Vorderer et al., 2004). Thus, beyond simple enjoyment that a narrative may bring, narratives may also fulfill one’s intrinsic needs.

The present study: enjoyment of popular music

Music consumption is “at an all-time high,” having increased more than 12% from 2019 (Nielsen, 2021). The average American listens to more than 4 hr of music each day, unsurprising considering the vast amount of sources music can be obtained from such as the radio and online streaming sites (Nielsen, 2021). As a 21.6-billion-dollar industry (IFPI, 2021), popular music is a pervasive and highly consumed entertainment. Music has been explored for its influence in other entertainment media (Ellis & Simons, 2005) and how cognitive traits may dictate genre preferences (Allan, 2014; Robinson et al., 1996).

Previous literature has explored the important work that narrative information about composers, dramatic descriptions, and structural descriptions play on enjoyment and appreciation of live orchestral music (Bennett & Ginsborg, 2018; Fischinger et al., 2020; Hellmuth Margulis, 2010). However, the role of biographical information about popular music artists remains relatively underexplored, despite the important role that popular music journalism plays in society (Mara, 2021).

Music can contain narrative and be appreciated across multiple dimensions. For example, a song itself can contain a narrative format (i.e., a ballad), but it is possible that narratives about the recording artist may also bolster enjoyment and appreciation. Unlike other forms of entertainment where success is attributed to a variety of different agents, such as the director, producers, and actors, the success of a song or album is often focalized to a single entity—the recording artist(s). Indeed, the promotion of popular music has often involved marketing the artist or band, rather than the production process behind the product (Salo et al., 2013). Recent development in music distribution has also placed more emphasis on the artist (Bockstedt et al., 2006). Whereas the success of music was once bound to recording labels, digitalization and the internet have provided more avenues and resources for the artist to disseminate their music (Bockstedt et al., 2006).

Similar to how paintings are often a reflection of the painter, songs have become intertwined with the identity of the recording artist, even when the recording artist is not the writer of the song. Thus, an artist’s music could be seen as an extension of him or herself, rather than just a role that is filled.

Although narratives have traditionally been tied to entertainment by the content, we extend research in this area by evaluating narratives in relation to the artist. Since individual songs are not bound to a narrative structure, it is possible that narratives about the artist may still bolster enjoyment and appreciation of the individual song by providing an opportunity for audiences to be transported and form affective relationships. The purpose of this study is twofold: first, understand how narratives influence audiences’ subsequent enjoyment and appreciation (Experiment 1), and second, examine the role transportation and affective relationships with the artist may play (Experiment 2).

Experiment 1

Because it is relatively unknown how narratives influence subsequent enjoyment and appreciation of popular music, we use previous entertainment media literature to inform our experiment. Narratives have shown to increase enjoyment of other types of entertainment media; thus, we propose the following hypothesis:

H1: Participants exposed to a narrative about an artist will lead to higher enjoyment of a song by that artist than those not exposed to a narrative.

In addition, as prior studies have found both profound meaning and lasting impression to contribute to entertainment appreciation (Oliver & Bartsch, 2010), we test distinct propositions regarding both constructs to provide a more nuanced understanding of narrative’s impact on music. The following hypotheses are then tested:

H2: Participants exposed to a narrative about an artist will perceive a song by that artist to have higher profound meaning than those not exposed to a narrative.

H3: Participants exposed to a narrative about an artist will report a song by that artist to have a stronger lasting impression than those not exposed to a narrative.

Method

A 2 (narrative: present vs. control) × 4 (song stimuli), post-test only, mixed factorial design was employed, in which narrative condition was a between-subjects factor and song stimuli was a within-subjects factor. All participants were exposed to a total of four songs but randomly assigned to a condition that either exposed them to an artist’s narrative before listening to each song or did not.

Participants

One hundred one participants were recruited through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), an online crowdsourcing website that has shown to have no distinguishable differences from traditional survey methods (Paolacci et al., 2010). In order to take part in the experiment, participants had to be native speakers of English, living in the United States, have working computer audio, and have completed 95% or more of the jobs they started on MTurk. Participants were compensated US$3.00 for their participation.

Participants were mostly male (64.5%) and White (67.3%; Asian: 18.8%; Black or African American: 9.9%; Hispanic or Latino: 7.9%; American Indian or Alaska Native: 4.0%). Participants ranged in age from 19 to 62 years (M = 32.9) and had an average yearly household income of US$40,000–US$49,999.

Procedure and materials

After providing informed consent, participants were randomly assigned to either a narrative or control condition. For the narrative condition, participants read a short narrative biography of an unknown artist and then immediately listened to a 30-s clip, or hook, of the song described. Hooks are commonly used in music marketing research to assess audience perceptions of a full song. Participants were not able to advance to the next screen until the hook was finished playing. After listening, participants were asked to answer items of enjoyment, perceived profound meaning, and lasting impression of the song. Participants repeated this procedure for the three additional songs, resulting in exposure and evaluation of four narratives and songs. Participants in the control condition completed the same procedure but did not read a narrative biography before listening to each song. Participants, finally, completed demographic questions.

The fictional narratives were written by a professional music biography writer with more than 10 years of experience writing biographies for use in press and marketing materials. The narratives, consistent in format and length, included a paragraph briefly providing the life story of the artist and why he or she came into music.

The narrative for Artist 1 described the story of a man who grew up in poverty and was only able to fulfill his dreams of being a musician because his grandfather saved money from each paycheck to buy him a guitar. The narrative for Artist 2 described the story of a young woman who learned to be a musician while watching her father on the southern docks and consistently dreamed of escaping her small town. Now that she has, she tries to maintain her cultural identity in all her songs. The narrative for Artist 3 described an artist who started his music as a basement project but found quick success due to social media. Yet, mystery surrounds the band as no one knows the true identity of the artist. Finally, the narrative for Artist 4 describes the story of a young man who after achieving quick success as a music artist became gravely injured due to a house fire. Although he survived, it took decades for the release of any new music. All four narratives were based on archetypes deemed common in music marketing and promotion by the biography writer.

To ensure that the music stimuli had not been previously listened to by the participants and that each song fits the genre and style described in the narratives, we licensed brand new original songs written by professional songwriters through an online songwriting broker (Rocket Songs).

Measures

All participants indicated their enjoyment, appreciation, and perceptions of lasting impression for each song using 6-point Likert scales adapted from Oliver and Bartsch (2010), ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) (see Table 1). Enjoyment was measured with five items, sample statements being, “I enjoyed this song,” and “It was fun for me to listen to this song.” Appreciation was measured with four items, sample statement being, “I appreciated this song,” and “I found this song artistically valuable.” Lasting impression was measured with five items, sample statements being, “I know I will never forget this song” and “The song left me with a lasting impression.” Responses to each construct were scaled into a single item for each song (see Table 1).

Table 1.

Descriptive Statistics for Variables.

	Experiment 1			Experiment 2
	M	SD	α	M	SD	α
Song 1
Enjoyment	4.59	1.62	.98	4.45	1.53	.97
Profound meaning	4.61	1.58	.88	4.05	1.35	.95
Lasting impression	4.59	1.48	.96	3.53	1.48	.93
Likeability	–	–	–	4.39	1.37	.93
Career success	–	–	–	4.91	1.41	.92
Song 2
Enjoyment	3.14	1.45	.96	4.41	1.58	.95
Profound meaning	4.03	1.87	.91	4.08	1.38	.94
Lasting impression	3.84	1.26	.95	3.58	1.45	.94
Likeability	–	–	–	4.62	1.33	.93
Career success	–	–	–	4.94	1.51	.91
Song 3
Enjoyment	4.56	1.48	.96	3.49	1.69	.93
Profound meaning	4.76	1.70	.92	3.14	1.46	.97
Lasting impression	4.50	1.62	.96	2.71	1.40	.94
Likeability	–	–	–	3.84	1.34	.91
Career success	–	–	–	4.08	1.73	.90
Song 4
Enjoyment	4.64	1.66	.94	4.00	1.56	.96
Profound meaning	4.65	1.70	.90	3.69	1.36	.93
Lasting impression	4.71	1.50	.92	3.34	1.43	.94
Likeability	–	–	–	4.33	1.39	.92
Career success	–	–	–	4.64	1.61	.91

Results

A series of analyses of covariance (one-way ANCOVA) were used to compare the effect of reading narrative biographic information on appreciation and enjoyment of music while controlling for age, sex, race, and income. Table 2 shows the results from these analyses for all dependent variables.

Table 2.

ANCOVA for Experiment 1 of Narrative Condition on Enjoyment and Appreciation.

	Narrative (n = 51)M (SD)	Control (n = 50)M (SD)	F
Song 1
Enjoyment	4.75 (1.57)	4.43 (1.67)	1.10
Profound meaning	4.76 (1.560	4.46 (1.59)	1.35
Lasting impression	4.71 (1.45)	4.47 (1.51)	0.95
Song 2
Enjoyment	3.39 (1.42)	2.90 (1.48)	3.33*
Profound meaning	4.30 (1.84)	3.76 (1.90)	3.00*
Lasting impression	4.13 (1.74)	3.56 (1.78)	3.82**
Song 3
Enjoyment	4.72 (1.52)	4.41 (1.45)	1.98*
Profound meaning	4.91 (1.63)	4.60 (1.77)	1.56*
Lasting impression	4.68 (1.49)	4.32 (1.74)	0.96*
Song 4
Enjoyment	4.62 (1.610	4.65 (1.72)	0.02
Profound meaning	4.77 (1.66)	4.53 (1.75)	0.77
Lasting impression	4.71 (1.44)	4.71 (1.57)	0.00

Note. All means and standard deviations are based on 7-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree). Age, sex, race, and musical preference were controlled for. ANCOVA = analysis of covariance.

p < .05; **p < .01.

First, we tested whether exposure to a narrative about an artist lead to increased enjoyment of the artist’s song (H1). A statistically significant difference in mean enjoyment was found between the two conditions for two of the four songs—Song 2: F(1, 121) = 3.33, p < .05; Song 3: F(1, 118) = 1.98, p < .05. Post hoc analysis revealed that participants in the condition where they read narratives about the artist reported higher enjoyment of the songs (Song 2: M = 3.39, SD = 1.42; Song 3: M = 4.72, SD = 1.52) than participants in the control condition (Song 2: M = 2.90, SD = 1.48; Song 3: M = 4.41, SD = 1.45). No statistically significant differences were found for the other two songs.

To test the influence of narratives on appreciation, we evaluated the difference in scores for perceived profound meaning (H2) and lasting impression (H3). A statistically significant difference in perceived profound meaning was found between the narrative and control conditions for two of the four songs, Song 2: F(1, 146) = 3.00, p < .05; Song 3: F(1, 146) = 1.56, p < .05. Post hoc analysis revealed that participants who read narratives about the artist reported higher perceived profound meaning of the songs (Song 2: M = 4.30, SD = 1.84; Song 3: M = 4.91, SD = 1.63) than participants in the control condition who only heard the songs (Song 2: M = 3.76, SD = 1.90; Song 3: M = 4.60, SD = 1.77). No statistically significant differences were found for the other two songs.

A statistically significant difference was also found for lasting impression between the narrative and control conditions for two of the four songs—Song 2: F(1, 146) = 3.82, p < .01; Song 3: F(1,145) = 0.96, p < .05. Post hoc analysis revealed that participants who read narratives about an artist thought the artist’s songs would have more of a lasting impression (Song 2: M = 4.13, SD = 1.74; Song 3: M = 4.68, SD = 1.49) than participants in the control condition who only heard the song (Song 2: M = 3.56, SD = 1.78; Song 3: M = 4.32, SD = 1.74). No statistically significant differences were found for the other two songs.

Discussion

Experiment 1 provided initial evidence that narratives can influence subsequent enjoyment and appreciation of music. Participants who read narrative biographies about an artist before exposure were more likely to enjoy and appreciate the artist’s song than those who were not exposed to any narrative. This effect was found for all three dimensions (i.e., enjoyment, profound meaning, and lasting impression) but only for Song 2 and Song 3, which were also the least enjoyed and appreciated in the control conditions. This finding potentially indicates that while narratives may be influential, this effect is strongest for songs that are not initially well-liked. That is, the inclusion of a narrative about the artist may only help bolster enjoyment and appreciation of a song if it was not initially well received.

A limitation of this experiment, however, is that measures of affective disposition were not collected. We assumed that increased enjoyment and appreciation from a narrative are due to more positive feelings toward the artist, a finding largely found for other entertainment media (e.g., Moyer-Gusé, 2008). Yet, because we did not measure the perceived affective relationship with the artist, we cannot be certain of this rationalization. To address these concerns and show replication of our findings, a second experiment was conducted.

Experiment 2

The primary purpose of Experiment 2 is to confirm that higher enjoyment and appreciation are due to increased affective disposition toward the artist. The second purpose is to replicate Experiment 1’s findings to better support that narratives about recording artists can influence music enjoyment and appreciation. In reflection of the results from Experiment 1, we predict that participants in a narrative condition will report higher enjoyment (H1), profound meaning (H2), and lasting impression (H3) of the song stimuli than participants who are not exposed to a narrative beforehand.

To further extend these results and determine a causal mechanism of the effect, we also measure the influence that the perception of the artist has on subsequent enjoyment and appreciation. That is, whether the effect of narratives on music preference is due to increased liking of the artist and the desire for that artist to succeed. Germane to previous studies that have found character liking to influence persuasive outcomes (Moyer-Gusé, 2008), enjoyment (Raney, 2004), and appreciation (Lewis et al., 2014), we test the following hypotheses:

H4: Exposure to a narrative about an artist will positively predict subsequent artist liking (H4a) and desire for the artist’s career to succeed (H4b).

H5: Affective disposition felt toward the character (liking and desired career success) will mediate the relationship between exposure to a narrative about an artist and subsequent enjoyment and appreciation of the artist’s song.

Method

We replicate Experiment 1 by employing a 2 (narrative: present vs. control) × 4 (song stimuli), post-test, mixed factorial design. Participants were exposed to all four songs, a within-subject factor, yet randomly assigned to a narrative or control condition, being a between-subjects factor.

Participants

A separate sample of participants (N = 100) were recruited through MTurk with the same inclusion criteria as Experiment 1: participants had to be native speakers of English, living in the United States, have working computer audio, and have completed 95% or more of the jobs they started on MTurk. Participants were compensated US$3.00 for their participation.

Participants were mostly male (68.0%) and White (75.0%; Asian: 17.0%; Hispanic or Latino: 16.0%; Black or African American: 6.0%; American Indian or Alaska Native: 3.0%). Participants ranged in age from 20 to 72 years, with the mean age being 32.2 years, and had an average yearly household income of US$40,000–US$49,999.

Procedure and materials

All procedure and materials were consistent with those used in Experiment 1. Participants provided informed consent and then were randomly assigned to a narrative or control condition. Those in the narrative condition read a narrative biography about the artist and song before listening to a 30-s hook. Participants in the control condition listened to the hook without reading a narrative. After listening to each hook, participants immediately completed evaluations for each song regarding their enjoyment, appreciation (i.e., profound meaning and lasting impression), and in addition to Experiment 1, affective disposition toward the artist.

Measures

Identical scales for enjoyment, profound meaning, and lasting impression were used for this experiment as in Experiment 1 (see Table 1). Affective disposition toward the artist was measured through two methods. We first measured the general liking of the artist with five standard questions used in the entertainment literature (Cohen, 2001; Zillmann & Cantor, 1976). Participants were asked to indicate on a 7-point scale how much they agreed or disagreed with statements such as “I like the artist” and “I would like to be friends with someone like the artist” (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree). Since we believe it is possible that the song becomes an extension of the artist himself or herself, we also wanted to measure affective disposition as desired success for the artist with the following two statements: “I would like to see the artist have a successful music career” and “I would like to see this song help the artist’s career” (1 = strongly disagree; 7 = strongly agree). Thus, both the affective disposition toward the artist as a person and as a musician were collected (see Table 1).

Results

To test H1–H3, a one-way ANCOVA was conducted to compare the effect of reading narrative biographic information on enjoyment, perceived profound meaning, and lasting impression of the songs while controlling for age, sex, race, and income. Table 3 shows the results from these analyses for all dependent variables.

Table 3.

ANCOVA for Experiment 2 of Narrative Condition on Enjoyment, Appreciation, and Affective Disposition.

	Narrative (n = 51)M (SD)	Control (n = 49)M (SD)	F
Song 1
Enjoyment	4.62 (1.52)	4.29 (1.53)	1.14
Profound meaning	4.18 (1.40)	3.93 (1.31)	0.82
Lasting impression	3.64 (1.53)	3.42 (1.44)	0.55
Liking	4.66 (1.33)	4.12 (1.31)	3.71*
Career success	5.13 (1.48)	4.70 (1.33)	2.28
Song 2
Enjoyment	4.59 (1.41)	4.23 (1.73)	1.25
Profound meaning	4.18 (1.31)	3.91 (1.46)	0.57
Lasting impression	3.62 (1.31)	3.53 (1.58)	0.11
Liking	4.89 (1.110	4.36 (1.48)	4.08*
Career success	4.94 (1.51)	4.64 (1.63)	2.98*
Song 3
Enjoyment	3.75 (1.79)	2.32 (1.56)	2.44
Profound meaning	3.27 (1.53)	3.00 (1.39)	0.82
Lasting impression	2.84 (1.45)	2.58 (1.34)	0.85
Liking	4.19 (1.28)	3.50 (1.32)	6.91**
Career success	4.51 (1.69)	3.67 (1.69)	6.04**
Song 4
Enjoyment	4.45 (1.39)	3.56 (1.60)	8.81**
Profound meaning	3.98 (1.31)	3.41 (1.36)	4.51*
Lasting impression	3.61 (1.33)	3.08 (1.33)	3.53
Liking	4.83 (1.27)	3.86 (1.34)	13.62***
Career success	5.08 (1.49)	5.08 (1.49)	7.43**

p < .05; **p < .01; ***p < .001.

H1 predicted that those exposed to a narrative about an artist would report higher enjoyment of that artist’s music than those in the control condition that only listened to the song. A statistically significant difference in mean enjoyment was found between the two conditions for one of the four songs—Song 4: F(1, 70) = 8.81, p < .01. Post hoc analysis revealed that participants in a narrative condition reported higher enjoyment of the Song 4 (M = 4.45, SD = 1.39) than participants in the control condition (M = 3.56, SD = 1.60). No statistically significant differences were found for the other three songs. Thus, H1 was partially supported.

H2 predicted that exposure to a narrative about an artist would increase participant’s perceived profound meaning of the artist’s song. A statistically significant difference in mean enjoyment was found between the two conditions for one of the four songs—Song 4: F(1, 70) = 4.51, p < .05. Post hoc analysis revealed that participants in a narrative condition reported higher enjoyment of Song 4 (M = 3.98, SD = 3.41) than participants in the control condition (M = 3.41, SD = 1.36). No statistically significant differences were found for the other three songs. Thus, H2 was partially supported.

H3 predicted that exposure to a narrative would increase the song’s perceived lasting impression for the participant. No statistically significant differences were found for any of the songs. Thus, H3 was not supported.

To answer whether narratives influenced the degree to which participants liked the artists (H4a) and wanted them to succeed (H4b), a separate ANCOVA was conducted. Significant differences were found between conditions for liking for all four songs—Song 1: F(1, 70) = 3.71, p < .05; Song 2: F(1, 70) = 4.08, p < .05; Song 3: F(1, 70) = 6.91, p < .01; Song 4: F(1, 70) = 13.62, p < .001. Post hoc analyses revealed that those in a narrative condition reported greater liking of the artist than those in the control condition (see Table 3 for means and standard deviations). In addition, significant differences were found for three of the four songs concerning desired success of the artist—Song 2: F(1, 70) = 2.98, p < .05; Song 3: F(1, 70) = 6.04, p < .01; Song 4: F(1, 70) = 7.43, p < .01. Post hoc analyses revealed that those in a narrative condition reported greater desired success of the artist than those in the control condition (see Table 3 for means and standard deviations).

Finally, we sought to understand if affective disposition mediated the relationship between narratives and subsequent enjoyment and appreciation (H5). Because a significant main effect of narrative condition was only found for one of the four songs, the mediation analysis was only conducted for Song 4. Before the mediation analysis was conducted, we scaled liking and desired success to form a composite affective disposition item for Song 4 (M = 4.49; SD = 1.42; α = .88). While the distinction between liking and desired success was of interest when performing the exploratory analysis of narrative’s impact, the distinction became less relevant in the mediation analysis due to the items’ high correlation (r = .80, p < .01) and reliability. The widely used procedures described by Baron and Kenny (1986) were used to test this mediation, which stipulates that multiple regression models should be conducted: First, the independent variable (condition) should significantly predict the dependent variable (enjoyment); second, the proposed mediator (affective disposition) should significantly predict the dependent variable; last, the effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable should be completely reduced when the mediating variable is added to the regression equation. If in the last model the independent variable no longer significantly predicts the dependent variable, complete mediation is found; if it is lessened by still statistically significant, it is indicative of partial mediation. Overall, affective disposition toward the artist was found to significantly mediate the relationship between both condition and enjoyment (β reduced from β = .89, p = .004 to β = .18, p = .68), and between condition and perceived profound meaning (β reduced from β = .57, p = .03 to β = –.11, p = .53), for Song 4 (see Figures 1 and 2).

Figure 1.

Mediation Effect of Narrative Condition on Enjoyment Through Affective Disposition Toward the Artist.

Figure 2.

Mediation Effect of Narrative Condition on Perceived Profound Meaning Through Affective Disposition Toward the Artist.

Discussion

Experiment 2 aimed at providing further support of narratives’ influence on enjoyment and appreciation, tested whether narratives influence people’s perceptions of the artist, and also determined whether the affective disposition felt toward the artist mediated the effect between narratives and subsequent enjoyment and appreciation. A few main findings can be reported. First, the results once again indicated that narratives about a recording artist can increase enjoyment and appreciation of their songs. Although this effect was only found for only one of the four songs, it was a different song than it was reported in Experiment 1 (Song 4 vs. Song 1 and Song 2 in Experiment 1). This may indicate support that these effects are due to presence of the narrative in general rather than the specific story told in the narrative or the song.

Second, the presence of a narrative was found to create more positive perceptions of the artist and desire for the artist to succeed. That is, participants who saw a narrative about the artist subsequently liked the artist significantly more than those that did not see a narrative and were more likely to want to see the artist succeed. To determine how this influences enjoyment and appreciation of the song, we performed a mediation analysis which produced significant results. The effect of narrative condition on subsequent enjoyment and appreciation was mediated by one’s affective disposition (liking and desired success) of the artist. This finding provides preliminary support that a narrative about an artist can transcend beyond the person and be reflected in subsequent enjoyment and appreciation of the entertainment work. Future research should further test different genres and affective disposition variables (e.g., identification) to better understand the relationship between narratives and music consumption.

General discussion and conclusion

The experiments in this study are among the first to test how narratives about artists influence the perception of their work and how narratives influence the enjoyment and appreciation of music entertainment in general. Although extant literature has explored how music, television, and film are appreciated and enjoyed, less attention has focused on how narratives about the creators of media, rather than the content, influence enjoyment. The results are consistent with the notion that narratives influence entertainment enjoyment and appreciation. Although popular music is not bound to a narrative structure and can be enjoyed/appreciated without such, our results indicate that involving a narrative can bolster perceptions toward the media. Specifically, we found that narratives do so by increasing how much the artist is generally liked and participants’ desire to see the artist succeed.

This effect was particularly strong for songs that were not as well-liked by the control group that did not read a narrative about the artist. That is, it appears that narratives are most effective in bolstering enjoyment and appreciation of songs that are not as liked to begin with. Although various cognitive, social, and biological predictors of music preference have been identified in the literature (Peretz & Zatorre, 2003), our research indicates that narratives about artists may also be an influential factor. It is possible that a song that a person may not be predisposed to like due to a variety of reasons (e.g., genre, songwriting structure) may be more well received if accompanied by a positive narrative regarding the artist. Future research should continue to test the role of narratives on music with a variety of genres and artists to further support this finding. The narratives tested were also generally positive as they were written in the style of the type of narrative information that accompanies albums when being sent out to press and radio. Future research could test positive and negative narratives that are reflective of the narratives consumers might read in music journalism pieces and reviews.

Recent studies on entertainment have made distinctions between enjoyment and appreciation of entertainment media (Oliver & Bartsch, 2010, 2011; Tamborini et al., 2010), yet our results did not show any significant differences between the two in regard to music. Because entertainment appreciation has been largely tied to the self and eudemonic needs, it was possible that the inclusion of narratives would impact appreciation more than enjoyment. That is, reading a narrative that provided information about the artist may have made the song more fulfilling to one’s self than just the song itself. Yet, exposure to a narrative consistently increased both enjoyment and appreciation of the song. Although the distinction between entertainment enjoyment and appreciation has been made clear in the literature, it is possible that the length of the narrative and hook used in this study were too short for participants to truly distinguish between the two concepts. Because each narrative was only a paragraph, and only a 30-s hook was played from the song, the ability for participants to have enough time to truly engage with the narrative enough to satisfy intrinsic needs was likely small. We selected the length of hooks and narratives for greater external validity by using the type of music hooks used when the music industry does research and using narratives with the length that most press materials are written at. Future studies can select stimuli material that better measures the difference between enjoyment and appreciation.

Although we tried to maintain a high level of control within this exploratory experiment, a few limitations should be noted. We used multiple songs from different genres and randomized conditions to increase our confidence that the effects were due to the inclusion of a narrative rather than a particular narrative or song, but it is still possible that our stimuli selection created unobserved effects on the outcome variables. Future research needs to be conducted on different genres, songs, and narratives to confirm our findings. This study also did not explore personality background factors of the listeners and how they may mediate their enjoyment and appreciation of music (Gosling et al., 2003; Paulhus & Jones, 2015). Future research could measure these personality factors as well as manipulate elements of the narrative and biographical information to best measure their mediation affects.

While this research used unknown songs so as to eliminate potential biases, future research also could explore real songs and real examples to examine how media framing about artists behavior influence listeners enjoyment and appreciation of their music.

In sum, this exploratory study sought to understand the impact of narratives on the enjoyment and appreciation of popular music. It offers initial support that narratives about an artist can positively bolster enjoyment and appreciation of the songs, particularly for a song that is not well-liked. More so, we found preliminary support that this effect occurs due to increased affective disposition toward the musical artist. As research, particularly for film and television, continues to understand how and why entertainment media is consumed, the results of this study suggest that attention should also be paid to music as it operates through the same mechanisms identified within the literature.

Footnotes

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Joe Steinhardt

Notes

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