Shi, Lim & Suh - Innovation or deviation?
Shi, Y., Lim, Y., & Suh, C. S. (2018). Innovation or deviation? The relationship between boundary crossing and audience evaluation in the music field. PLoS ONE, 13(10): e0203065.
Using various quantitative techniques to correlate musical contents and public evaluation, the authors show that the choice of ‘genre spanning’ by a musician is not followed by positive evaluation from the public when compared to the choice of a unique, well-defined genre. The analysis points to the fact that the diversity aimed at in this case does not imply a truly diversified cultural product.
The diversification of audiences tends to lead to a fragmentation of cultural worlds into specific microcosms. This suggests that a generally inclusive strategy of emphasising multiple forms of culture also tends to isolate various groups from each other and therefore does not provide a functional solution in the process of collective identity creation.
Shi, Lim & Suh “Innovation or deviation? The relationship between boundary crossing and audience evaluation in the music field”