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Evolution of music by public choice
Robert M MacCallum1, Matthias Mauch, Austin Burt
1Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom. uncoolbob@gmail.com
Summary
Consumer preferences drive music evolution. A Darwinian music engine showed early evolution of pleasing chords and rhythms, but later slowed due to reduced transmission fidelity, demonstrating competing evolutionary forces in cultural dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Music cognition
- Computational creativity
Background:
- Cultural products, like music, evolve through selection pressures.
- Understanding the mechanisms of cultural evolution, particularly the role of consumer choice, is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of consumer selection on music evolution.
- To model the evolutionary dynamics of musical attributes using a Darwinian approach.
Main Methods:
- Development of a Darwinian music engine with sexually reproducing and mutating audio loops.
- Simulating 2,513 generations of evolution with 6,931 consumer ratings of aesthetic qualities.
- Application of the Price equation to analyze evolutionary forces and stasis.
Main Results:
- Rapid initial evolution of musical loops, characterized by aesthetically pleasing chords and rhythms.
- Subsequent evolutionary stasis attributed to decreased fidelity of transmission.
- Demonstration of competing evolutionary forces shaping cultural dynamics.
Conclusions:
- Consumer selection significantly influences the evolution of music.
- Evolutionary processes, including transmission fidelity, play a key role in cultural dynamics.
- The Darwinian music engine provides a framework for studying cultural evolution.
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