Elucidating User Behavior in Music Services Through Persona and Gender

Prior user studies in the music information retrieval field have identified different personas representing the needs, goals, and characteristics of specific user groups for a usercentered design of music services. However, these personas were derived from a qualitative study involving a small number of participants and their generalizability has not been tested. The objectives of this study are to explore the applicability of seven user personas, developed in prior research, with a larger group of users and to identify the correlation between personas and the use of different types of music services. In total, 962 individuals were surveyed in order to understand their behaviors and preferences when interacting with music streaming services. Using a stratified sampling framework, key characteristics of each persona were extracted to classify users into specific persona groups. Responses were also analyzed in relation to gender, which yielded significant differences. Our findings support the development of more targeted approaches in music services rather than a universal service model.