Musical Listening Habits of College Students in Finland, Slovenia, South Africa, and Texas: Similarities and Differences

The purpose of this study was to examine music preferences across a wide range of cultures in Finland, Slovenia, South Africa and Texas to get a better sense of cultural and demographic moderators of preferences across a wide variety of musical genres. At the same time, this study is confined to a rather specific sample of listeners: especially students, but also faculty and staff at universities. The musical listening habits analyzed here address not only the differences, but are also trying to sharpen the focus on the similarities between the geographically as well as culturally distinct milieus. Discussing the differences in cultural phenomena may make sense only if there are some universals to be discussed along the road. In this respect, the study comparing listeners’ habits from four different parts of the world is conceived as a contribution to a rather vaguely defined study of the musical universals in different ‘cultural habitats’.