Experimental Study of Inequality and Unpredictability in an Artificial Cultural Market
Abstract
Hit songs, books, and movies are many times more successful than average, suggesting that "the best" alternatives are qualitatively different from "the rest"; yet experts routinely fail to predict which products will succeed. We investigated this paradox experimentally, by creating an artificial "music market" in which 14,341 participants downloaded previously unknown songs either with or without knowledge of previous participants' choices. Increasing the strength of social influence increased both inequality and unpredictability of success. Success was also only partly determined by quality: The best songs rarely did poorly, and the worst rarely did well, but any other result was possible.
Cite this
Matthew Salganik, Peter Sheridan Dodds, Duncan J. Watts (2006). Experimental Study of Inequality and Unpredictability in an Artificial Cultural Market. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1121066
@article{matthew2006experimental,
title = {Experimental Study of Inequality and Unpredictability in an Artificial Cultural Market},
author = {Salganik, Matthew and Dodds, Peter Sheridan and Watts, Duncan J.},
year = {2006},
journal = {Science},
doi = {10.1126/science.1121066}
}Citations in this library
Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 2,174 citations exist upstream.