Electronic music crowned the most ‘infectious’ genre, study finds

A new study reports that ‘Electronica’ is the most infectious genre of music. 

According to a new Guardian report, a study at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, found that new music download patterns closely resemble epidemic curves for infectious disease. 

Research author Dora Rosati took the lead role in the study. Electronica has the highest R0 (or basic reproduction number; a disease’s ability to spread). Electronica recorded an R0 of 3,430. The number was comparable to the following genres: rap/hip-hop (310), rock (129) and pop (35).

Delving into the results a little more, dance music – a sub-genre of electronica – only recorded an R0 of just 2.8. 

The study information was collected as follows: 

• 1.4bn individual database 
• UK downloads between 2007 & 2014 (against the standard SIR model of epidemic disease) 
• Focus on the ‘spread’ of genres against population rather than overall downloads 

“Diseases are limited in how they can spread by requiring physical interaction,” said Thomas Rawson from Imperial College London. “The reason why we might see some sky-high R0s for songs is that you can just make a tweet, and you have already infected a hundred people. You can spread a song disease far quicker than you could an infectious disease.”

Going on to say: 

“There are probably a lot of people in a population that may already be immune to a genre like electronica, because of their existing tastes,” he added. “My nan, for example, is particularly resistant to the infection of trap and dubstep.”

An interesting set of results to say the least. How relevant is the study period up to 2014? 

An interesting set of results to say the least. How relevant is the study period up to 2014? 

More questions than answers, but still a curious study.

Source: DJ Mag