What is the relation of music to virus

The spread of music downloads can be compared to an outbreak of a contagious disease. This is shown by a current study in which R0 values ​​of different music genres were also calculated.

When the Beatles celebrated worldwide success in the 1960s, the local press preferred to talk about Beatles fever. Thus the enthusiasm of fans of the British pop band was attributed to pathological features. In fact, new songs spread in a way that is reminiscent of infectious diseases. This was the result of a study by mathematician Dora Rosati, in which she compared the prevalence of music downloads to epidemiological statistical means.

As the basis for their investigation, Rosati and her co-authors used data from the now-defunct MP3 provider MixRadio. Specifically, they evaluated download numbers from Great Britain from 2007 to 2014. They then examined how well standard statistical models for the spread of infectious diseases could be used to capture music trends.

And in fact, the so-called SIR model can be used excellently for this as well. “This suggests that the social processes that underlie the popularity of songs are similar to those responsible for the transmission of infectious diseases,” says the paper published in the journal.Proceedings of the Royal Society A“It’s been published.

As part of her investigation, Rosati also did original reproductionzahli Enumeration of different genres of music. This figure, known as the R0 value, has been known outside of health research since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. According to this calculation, dance and metal have the lowest R0 values ​​with 2.8 and 3.7 respectively. Pop music, on the other hand, enjoys an R0 value of 35, but still lags far behind other genres.

According to calculations, the R0 value of rock music is 129. Rap/Hip-Hop, on the other hand, spreads much faster with an R0 value of 310. However, on top of that is the electronics. The base reproduction number of the musical genre is 3,430. This makes electronic music about 190 times more “contagious” than measles.

Researchers point out that electronic genre songs, of all things, spread faster than pop music because the music genre can more quickly affect groups of people susceptible to it. Pop music, on the other hand, has to prove itself in a wider audience, which tends to listen to music from many genres.