Skip navigation
  • Home
  • Browse
    • Communities
      & Collections
    • Browse Items by:
    • Publication Date
    • Author
    • Title
    • Subject
    • Department
  • Sign on to:
    • My MacSphere
    • Receive email
      updates
    • Edit Profile


McMaster University Home Page
  1. MacSphere
  2. Open Access Dissertations and Theses Community
  3. Open Access Dissertations and Theses
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/18292
Title: Song Popularity as a Contagious Process in Great Britain
Authors: Rosati, Dora P.
Advisor: Earn, David J.D.
Department: Mathematics and Statistics
Publication Date: Nov-2015
Abstract: Determining the mechanisms by which a song becomes popular is a complex problem. The rapidity with which some songs gain popularity often leads to them being described as 'contagious' or 'infectious'. Upon closer examination, we find that the download time series for many popular songs do resemble epidemic curves derived from case report data for infectious diseases. This correspondence suggests an interesting link between the fields of infectious disease research and music research: perhaps ideas from epidemiological modelling might be useful in investigating how certain songs 'spread' through human populations, and perhaps employing disease epidemic models might help to better understand the mechanisms underlying song popularity. Download data were obtained from MixRadio based on song downloads through Nokia cell phones in Great Britain over a seven year period and aggregated at various timescales. Songs were characterized by fitting a standard epidemic model to song download time series. The fits estimate standard epidemiological parameter values for each song, providing new insights about popularity of music. In addition, we propose and analyze a new model that is better suited to 'song transmission' and comment on how this model might be used to study song popularity in the future.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11375/18292
Appears in Collections:Open Access Dissertations and Theses

Files in This Item:
File Description SizeFormat 
Rosati_Dora_P_finalsubmission2015September_MSc.pdf
Open Access
Main thesis text2.01 MBAdobe PDFView/Open
Show full item record Statistics


Items in MacSphere are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship     McMaster University Libraries
©2022 McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4L8 | 905-525-9140 | Contact Us | Terms of Use & Privacy Policy | Feedback

Report Accessibility Issue