Psychology of Music Preference

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                                  What are psychological factors that determine music preference?

We all like different types of music. Whether it's rap, pop, classical, or alternative, everyone has their own taste. This article on Wikipedia talks about all the factors that go into people's like for certain genres of music. While Wikipedia isn't always a credible source, I found that this article was pretty credible by checking the sources at the bottom of the page and they all seem pretty legit with the studies that were noted.

The first big category that affected music preference was people's personalities. Certain personality traits explained why certain people are more attracted to certain kinds of music. The biggest factor of personality was openness to experience. People who were more open to try certain things and get out of their comfort zone tended to enjoy more complex music genres such as classical, jazz, heavy metal, and alternative music. People who also were more open to experience tended to react more emotionally toward certain types of songs. Sad music was also thought to allow people to experience more things while listening to the song. People who are more open had more intense reactions of nostalgia and peacefulness and responded positively. These people also tended to rate themselves higher in  'self-perceived intelligence' which would explain why these subjects are attracted to the more complex and deeper songs.

Another big factor of personality was introversion versus extroversion. People who were more extroverted not only liked more upbeat and happy music, but also tended to listen to music more often than people who identified as introverted. Smaller influences included age, gender, mood, and familiarity. These are all pretty explanatory. People who aren't happy listened and identified with music that were slow and sounded sad while people who are happy like to listen to more upbeat and happy music.

I thought this article was interesting because this could explain how record companies can market certain artists with their sound and image. The people who identify as being 'different' from others and enjoying more complex music might enjoy certain types of music more than others. They would know better than to gear popular types of music toward those types of people because they know it most likely wouldn't appeal to them. Pop artists in mainstream media always tend to have more upbeat music that go along with bright and colorful images and portrayals to help show them off to people who are more extroverted and enjoy happier, more upbeat music. 

1. How do artists/labels take into account their audience or the psychology of music?

2. What are other big factors that affect the selling of music?