Effects of recommendations on the playlist creation behavior of users

International audienceThe digitization of music, the emergence of online streaming platforms and mobile apps have dramatically changed the ways we consume music. Today, much of the music that we listen to is organized in some form of a playlist, and many users of modern music platforms create playlists for themselves or to share them with others. The manual creation of such playlists can however be demanding, in particular due to the huge amount of possible tracks that are available online. To help users in this task, music platforms like Spotify provide users with interactive tools for playlist creation. These tools usually recommend additional songs to include given a playlist title or some initial tracks. Interestingly, little is known so far about the effects of providing such a recommendation functionality. We therefore conducted a user study involving 270 subjects, where one half of the participants-the treatment group-were provided with automated recommendations when performing a playlist construction task. We then analyzed to what extent such recommendations are adopted by users and how they influence their choices. Our results, among other aspects, show that about two thirds of the treatment group made active use of the recommendations. Further analyses provide additional insights about the underlying reasons why users selected certain recommendations. Finally, our study also reveals that the mere presence of the recommendations impacts the choices of the participants, even in cases when none of the recommendations was actually chosen

AI Human Impact: Toward a Model for Ethical Investing in AI-Intensive Companies

Does AI conform to humans, or will we conform to AI? An ethical evaluation of AI-intensive companies will allow investors to knowledgeably participate in the decision. The evaluation is built from nine performance indicators that can be analyzed and scored to reflect a technology’s human-centering. When summed, the scores convert into objective investment guidance. The strategy of incorporating ethics into financial decisions will be recognizable to participants in environmental, social, and governance investing, however, this paper argues that conventional ESG frameworks are inadequate for AI-intensive companies. To fully account for contemporary technology, the following categories of evaluation will be developed and featured as vital investing criteria: autonomy, dignity, privacy, performance. With these priorities established, the larger goal is a model for humanitarian investing in AI-intensive companies that is intellectually robust, manageable for analysts, useful for portfolio managers, and credible for investors

Motivations in the adoption and conversion of Music Freemium Services

Mestrado Bolonha em MarketingCom o recente avanço tecnológico, é possível ouvir música de novas maneiras. Isto resultou no aumento do valor de mercado da música e no surgimento de diversos serviços de streaming on-demand com o modelo de negócio freemium. Estes serviços têm sucesso, especialmente, quando os seus utilizadores convertem a sua subscrição de free para premium. O presente trabalho propõe-se a estudar quais as motivações que levam os consumidores a adotar uma plataforma de streaming de música, e quais as motivações e características de utilizador que levam à conversão para o serviço premium. Alguns estudos dedicaram-se a explicar o porquê desta conversão, mas pouco foi pesquisado no que toca às motivações dos consumidores para distinguir entre diferentes plataformas. Para aprofundar estas questões, este estudo analisa um conjunto de motivações e caraterísticas de utilizador como variáveis explicativas em conjunto, de forma original, não encontrada na literatura. Deste modo, os dados foram obtidos através de um inquérito online, com uma amostra de 231 utilizadores portugueses de plataformas de streaming. Os resultados principais apontam que a satisfação, valor percebido e ubiquidade são motivações estatisticamente significativas que influenciam positivamente a escolha de diferentes plataformas. Para além disto, as mesmas motivações, bem como a idade e ocupação (características de utilizador) mostraram-se impactantes no que diz respeito à conversão, sendo relevante do ponto de vista teórico e do ponto de vista prático. No entanto, os resultados destacam a influência negativa da satisfação e idade nesta compra. Isto significa que um utilizador altamente satisfeito não se converte e de modo semelhante, quanto mais velho for o utilizador, menos provável é que a compra ocorra. Não há evidência estatística que as motivações de descoberta, exclusividade, social e personalização e as restantes características de utilizador influenciem a conversão de utilizadores free em utilizadores premium.With the recent technological advancement, music is being experienced in new ways. This resulted in the rising value of the music market and the surge of diverse on-demand streaming services with the freemium business model. These services thrive especially when its users convert their subscription from free to premium. The current dissertation aims to study what motivations drive consumers to adopt different music streaming platforms and what motivations and user characteristics leads them to convert to the premium service. Several studies endeavoured on explaining this phenomenon, but little research was dedicated on what are the motivations for consumers to distinguish between different platforms. To enhance comprehension in this matter, this study analysis a group of motivations and user characteristics as explanatory variables together as a set, in a original way, not found on the literature. Thus, data was obtained via an online questionnaire, with a sample of 231 Portuguese users of streaming platforms. The main results suggest that satisfaction, perceived value and ubiquity are statistically significant motivations that positively influence choosing a different platform. Regarding subscribing to the premium service, the same motivations, as well as age and occupation (user characteristics) present influential results, which poses relevancy from a theorical point of view and managerial point of view. However, the findings highlight satisfaction and age as negative influences for this purchase. This means that highly satisfied free users don’t convert and similarly, the older the consumer, the less likely the conversion happens. No statistical evidence was found in discovery, exclusivity, social and personalization motivations alongside the remaining user characteristics for the conversion of free users into premium users.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Streaming de música: padrões de consumo em ambientes digitais

O acesso facilitado às novas tecnologias trouxe consigo novas possibilidades, bem como novas questões, no que se refere aos hábitos de consumo dos seus utilizadores, sendo atualmente o streaming de conteúdos uma das formas mais expressivas de negócio e consumo digitais. O que ainda permanece relativamente incerto é a dinâmica de consumo nestas novas plataformas, em especial no que se refere a cenários de exploração dos conteúdos presentes, quais as ferramentas mais relevantes e qual o papel que fatores como a familiaridade e o gosto desempenham durante o processo de exploração do catálogo existente. Também será relevante entender de que forma os laços sociais previamente presentes poderão influenciar estes comportamentos em ambientes digitais e ainda quais os eventuais motivos inibidores ao uso destas plataformas. Pretende-se assim entender a expressividade do uso das diversas plataformas de streaming de música e quais as dinâmicas de consumo nestes novos ambientes, em especial no que se refere a comportamentos de caráter exploratório e quais as ferramentas ou mecanismos mais influentes neste processo. A partir de uma abordagem metodológica quantitativa e qualitativa, 264 participantes responderam a um questionário com perguntas abertas e fechadas. Os principais resultados evidenciam o uso expressivo na utilização das plataformas de streaming bem como a predisposição para explorar o catálogo existente, sendo as ferramentas existentes nos próprios serviços o recurso mais significativo neste processo.The eased access to new digital technologies allowed for new possibilities, with content streaming being one of the most expressive digital consumption and business models in the phonographic industry. Following, brand-new discussions regarding the consumption habits of its users took place. What is not yet clear is the consumption dynamics on these new platforms, particularly when referring to exploration scenarios, the most relevant tools and what role factors such as familiarity and taste play in the discovery process of the existing catalogue. It is pertinent to understand how pre-existing social bonds might influence these behaviors in digital contexts and the possible reasons for individuals to avoid or not use music streaming services. The intent is to comprehend the extent of the expressiveness of these music streaming platforms, what consumption dynamics come at play referring to exploratory behaviors, furthermore, which tools or mechanisms are the most influential in this process. Following a quantitative and qualitative methodology, comprised by 264 respondents, the results indicate both the popularity of streaming platforms and the respondents’ high exploration tendencies, with existing features like playlists being the most significant tools to discover the catalogue