Music Recommendation Apps: Perceived Trustworthiness among Indian Listeners

Music is usually said to be a medium that connects people regardless of creed, social standing, communal background, or any other categories in human society, music unites. While being representative of an individual’s legacy and heritage (de Alwis, 2025), it also allows one’s eyes to look outward, understanding different cultures and traditions as far as they can be defined, thus broadening perspectives. Apart from the sociocultural benefits, music can heal (Dias XXABSTRACT Nettavong, 2016) on a more personal level. Having experienced the therapeutic effects of music, people integrate it almost completely with their daily routines—walking or working; it is exceedingly rare to find an individual who is not consuming music. In a country like India, which is inherently diverse and where each regional language is rich in its contribution to musical expressions, exploration and discovery form a key part of a listener’s musical journey. It therefore becomes vital to identify the factors some people look for in their music recommendations and to assess their perceptions of the existing systems based on how well they cater to their needs. The present paper, mostly as a quantitative projection, undertakes an exploration of the recommendation systems employed by music streaming apps used in India to study the perceived trustworthiness of music apps and the factors driving the adoption of these applications, which are mainly made for music consumers. However, the results may apply to many other cultural responsibilities.