On streaming-dating convergence: Music-mediated self-presentations on Tinder

This study takes a cultural anthropological approach to address the use of music taste as an instrument of self-presentation on online dating platforms by examining the partnership between Spotify and Tinder, which not only allows Tinder users to pick an anthem from Spotify’s catalog, but also displays a list of “top artists” based on data aggregated through their activity on Spotify. Using Cheney-Lippold’s formulation of the “measurable type” and Bucher’s notion of “conscious clicking” as foundational frameworks, this paper offers the term “conscious listening” to explore the ways that users play with their music taste-based identities on Tinder. In order to better theorize this phenomenon, a wide array of thinkers ranging from communications, sociology, and data/platform studies are coalesced along with the results of in-depth interviews with 10 Tinder users to analyze the recent convergence of music streaming and social dating platforms.