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Tastes of our time: analysing age cohort effects in the contemporary distribution of music tastes

ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between age cohorts and music taste. Drawing on quantitative data about the contemporary distribution of French music tastes, we note that a large majority of individuals are eclectic. Although social class remains a significant structuring variable, age appears as another critical factor in the distribution of individuals’ taste for certain genres and artists. Deploying a regression analysis including a comparative “average partial effect” coefficient, we show the effect of age in the distribution of music taste. Specifically, we analyse data about how age cohorts express different levels of appreciation for music artists, which enables us to identify the relationship between individuals and music that has emerged and developed at a certain time. We argue that music taste is acquired in relation to two intertwined principles: individuals’ age and the cultural times that mediate the presence of music genres and their encounters with them.