Kinetic - an Exploration of Storytelling Media and Content Experiences and the Impact on Fan Engagement

The music industry is rapidly changing, with technology affecting music production, consumption, and promotion. Digital storytelling has demonstrated an impact on the success of music artists and their work, affecting relationships and environments between artists and audiences to become more dynamic. Media users now have access to a plethora of content, and contemporary media studies have begun to take a multi-dimensional approach when analyzing media effects (Auter & Palmgreen, 2000). Yet, past literature has focused on analyzing specific mediums, such as television and radio, and media outcomes individually and separately (A. M. Rubin et al., 1985). Thus, new research studies that compare multiple mediums, such as video and virtual reality, and media effects, in an integrated context including concepts such as parasocial interaction, identification, affinity, similarity, and imitation, will provide further insights that are more representative of the modern media consumption process.

This research asks : “Do digital storytelling experiences affect the relationship between artist and audience in the music industry?”. Specifically, it aims to interrogate media consumption outcomes of parasocial interaction, identification, similarity, affinity, and imitation at the developmental stage between media figures and media users. In a study of 89 participants, the results indicate significant differences between various media, with video and text mediums showing the strongest positive influences on participants in respect to the selected media outcomes. It also suggests correlations between media factors, supporting the direction of multi-dimensional analysis of media outcomes. The study proposes several considerations for media characters and brands relevant to the process of storytelling content optimization based on audience uses and gratifications.