Nostalgia and technology innovation driving retro music consumption

Purpose – Understanding a prima facie attraction of retro pop-rock by a broad spectrum of people and the role of technology innovation in driving the importance of this genre. A key idea of this paper is that ongoing popularity of retro pop-rock music is associated with a confluence of demand-side and supply-side factors. The demand side is thought to be characterized by a combination of psychological factors contributing to individuals’ desires to enjoy, reflect on, or even “live in” the past. On the supply-side, technology has roles in the production, distribution and consumption of music. Design/methodology/approach – The approach of this paper is to provide an extensive search and synthesis of relevant literature and to present and analyze findings from online surveys. Findings – The literature supports the idea that attraction to retro music is heavily influenced by psychological factors as well as technology innovation. The survey provides supporting evidence. Of particular interest are findings related to correlations between nostalgia and technology. Originality/value – This study is, to the authors’ knowledge, one of the first to provide a survey-based link between the attraction to retro music to nostalgia and technology.