Eljed, Isabelle, Sai Wan Ng, Sarah, Putter, Kaila, and Krause, Amanda (2025) A case study examining collaborative playlist-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. In: [Presented at the 18th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition]. From: ICMPC 2025: 18th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, 21-25 July 2025, Sao Paolo, Brazil.

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Abstract

Background: Live music participation was halted during the COVID-19 pandemic (Phillips & Krause, 2024), prompting people to look for other opportunities to engage in music, including using online platforms to listen, create and collaborate (Fink et al., 2021). For instance, a rise in collaborative playlist engagement was observed (Park, et al., 2022), and many people pointed to music’s ability to combat loneliness and foster feelings of social connection and companionship during lockdowns (Krause et al., 2025).

Aims: While there is some evidence about the use of collaborative playlists within people’s COVID-19 lockdown experiences, the majority of published studies on COVID-19 focus on other musical behaviours. Therefore, our study explored an organically developed collaborative playlist activity which evolved throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This activity called “Song of the Day” was developed by a group of cycling enthusiasts, who took turns sharing a new song at the rate of one per day. This case study aimed to answer two research questions: What does the group’s collaborative playlisting process entail, and What were the outcomes of engaging in collaborative playlist making during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Method: Using an exploratory, qualitative approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews with four Song of the Day group members (Mage = 63). After transcribing the interviews, we used an inductive approach to thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022) to analyse the interview data.

Results: We identified four overarching themes: group dynamics, development and evolution of activity, song selection, and participation outcomes. Though initially motivated by a simple premise of sharing one song a day to lighten the mood and keep in touch during lockdowns, the playlisting activity guidelines evolved over time. A shift in selecting new songs that met stated thematic parameters made the activity challenging, elicited competitiveness and conversation, and fostered continued and on-going group member participation. Engaging in this form of a collaborative playlisting sparked enjoyment and nostalgia, fostered conversations amongst the group, and created opportunities for bonding beyond their shared interest in cycling. These outcomes deepened their existing friendships and prompted the exploration and discovery of new music and artists. As lockdowns ended, the activity continued and group members also began attending live, in-person music events together.

Discussion and Conclusion: The group’s use of multiple technologies to share, listen, and discuss music extend previous research on collaborative playlist making. Interestingly, the song curation was primarily historical – not to focus on the playlist order or narrative, but to ensure new additions are not repeated songs. Eagerly anticipating each new song, they created a ritual in locating, sharing, and listening. The well-being benefits associated with this ritual resulted from the ongoing collaborative process, rather than the creation of an artefact, illustrating the potential of collaborative playlist making as a form of everyday musical engagement. Consequently, our results support the burgeoning research illustrating that music listening activities can foster social connection and combat loneliness, even in times of global crisis.

Item ID:	86463
Item Type:	Conference Item (Poster)
Keywords:	everyday music listening, collaborative playlists, social connection, well-being, COVID-19, music psychology, psychology of music, social and applied psychology of music
Date Deposited:	12 Aug 2025 01:41
FoR Codes:	36 CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING > 3603 Music > 360301 Music cognition @ 40% 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5205 Social and personality psychology > 520505 Social psychology @ 60%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280121 Expanding knowledge in psychology @ 70% 13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1301 Arts > 130102 Music @ 30%
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