Social identity, collective self-esteem, and musical preferences in electronic dance music culture: The role of emotions

Research on the relationship between identification factors and musical preference show contradictory results. Some studies do not find relationship between these, while others show that social identification predicts stronger music preference. The present study further delves into that controversy in the understudied context of Electronic Dance Music (EDM). Furthermore, we examine the role of two categories of emotions, namely, vitality (representing energy, joy, and power) and sublimity (representing feelings of transcendence, tranquility, or nostalgia) in the relationship between identification factors and EDM preference. To test these ideas, we conducted two studies, including a correlational survey study with a sample of 222 EDM fans in the Basque Country and a qualitative study using a focus group methodology with 25 members of the same community. Results show that stronger musical identification is associated with preference for EDM only indirectly via vitality emotions and to a lesser degree, sublimity emotions. In contrast, the more negative (and not positive) musical collective self-esteem, the stronger was the preference for EDM, and again this link was explained via mostly vitality emotions. The qualitative study corroborated the existence and acceptance of negative collective self-esteem among EDM fans, an aspect related to the strong stigma generated by the Basque society.