Online ratings 'influence artist popularity'

Musicians could potentially notch up more sales if they have favourable ratings on sites such as Amazon.

Gregory Berns, chair of Neuroeconomics at Emory University, carried out a study to see which songs teenagers liked the most, reports the Times.

The participating youngsters were then handed popularity ratings based on each song's download sales and asked to listen to them again.

In many cases, listeners were more likely to rate a song highly themselves if they knew it was popular with other people.

Mr Berns said this conclusively proves that people's musical tastes are often determined by whether it is fashionable or acceptable to like a certain song, rather than genuinely liking the music.

"A lot of people think we are individuals and in democratic societies we have freedom of choice," he commented.

"Actually, we're slaves to what other people think."

The latest figures from the BPI show that digital albums accounted for more than 12 per cent of the UK albums market last year.

Product category: Electronic musical instruments