ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the specific analyses economists provide of the demand for music starting with neoclassical approach and moving on to more socially embedded treatments. Most economic studies of markets like music do not actually use the word consumption but rather the term 'demand'. Economists however use the term consumption in macroeconomics to look at aggregate household spending on all goods and services. Both live and recorded music have properties that might be conveniently situated in the context of the theory of 'rational addiction' n economic theory. This model needs to be set in historical context. Social positioning effects such as these trying to be 'superior' are documented in music journalism. However, these are not generally related to price of tickets or pre-recorded music in any analytical treatments. Popular dance music consumers are unlikely to be constrained by adherence to canon in way that consumers of more 'high art' music are. Dissonance is reduced by deliberate evasion of dissonant information.
