Do people who travel have better music taste?
Does travel help or hinder your music tastes, or is it actually expanded by the regularity of a routine? A new study reveals all.
Deezer want to find out whether becoming a vagabond will broaden the music you love as well as your horizons, or if going on the road will put your love of good tunes on the backseat.
To find out, they’ve teamed up with researchers from NYU and Princeton. Together with data taken from Deezer and their global music experiences, they’re seeing how disruptions to our personal routines plays into the music we love and listen to.
They’ve analysed over 100 million music streams from tens of thousands of Deezer users across 9 countries: France, Germany, the UK, Brazil, Australia, Russia, South Africa, Morocco, and Mexico.
Their findings reveal that travel does in fact expand the music tastes of those who do it, finding connections to the places they visit and diversifying their tastes.
They found that those experiences aren’t fleeting but can also leave a lasting mark on the tastes of those who’ve travelled. Deezer explain that this is especially true if the traveling is more “genuine”. This means an musical experience that is more meaningful than casual.
Chief Innovation Officer at Deezer, Aurélien Herault says: “The findings of this study not only give us insight into how a person’s surroundings can affect their relationship to music, but also show that experiencing new places can have a lasting effect on what we choose to listen to. We are very happy to have contributed data for this study.”
They report that the further you go from home culturally, the bigger the impact might be on the person. They call it a “taste distance”, which doesn’t necessarily correlate to a physical distance.
Famous TV travel expert Rob Staines compares the findings to his own experiences, saying: “Travel exposes us to new scenery, new scents, new tastes, and new sounds. It encourages us to dissolve our barriers and emerge ourselves in the new. Music is intrinsically linked to exploration and discovery, often representing an overtly rich example of cultural discovery.”
To bring some of the magic of travel to listeners, Deezer have launched a ‘Travel with music’ channel. It brings regional playlists from music cultures around the world to offer a “unique and enriching music journey”.
So, what do you think? Has travel broadened your music tastes in the past? Tell us your travel and music stories in the comments below.