Enhancing fans and artists’ affective engagement and behavioral intentions in digital music streaming platforms through relational bonds: a case study of JOOX Rooms

This study examines the role of relational bonds in enhancing fans’ and artists’ affective engagement and behavioral intentions on digital music streaming platforms. Specifically, we focus on JOOX Rooms, a live-streaming service that allows fans to interact with artists in real-time. Drawing on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework and relationship marketing literature, we investigate how the development of financial, social, and structural bonds between fans and artists impacts affective engagement and subsequent behavioral intentions. Survey data from 175 JOOX Rooms users in Thailand were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results show that all three types of relational bonds positively influence affective engagement with the JOOX platform, which in turn predicts higher behavioral intentions to continue using and recommend the service. Notably, affective engagement with artists was empirically indistinguishable from platform engagement, suggesting that in this context, the platform itself becomes integral to the fan-artist relationship. These findings highlight the importance of relational bonds as key factors in promoting engagement and participation on digital music streaming platforms. Our study contributes to media ecology, fan studies, and platform studies by providing insights into the dynamics of relational bonds in digital media environments and their impact on user behavior.