Research
The evidence behind the work.
My research explores how networks, culture, and product features shape creativity and competition — primarily in the music industry and higher education. Published in top journals, covered in the popular press.
American sociological review
Feature-Based Structures of Opportunity:
Genre Innovation in the American Popular Music Industry, 1958-2016
What are the structural forces in markets that give rise to–or inhibit–innovation? Looking at the popular music industry across nearly 70 years, we show that the features of the products in the market (in this case, sonic attributes and lyrical themes) create or limit opportunity for innovation in the form of new genres and sub-genres.
PNAS
Disrupted Routines Anticipate Musical Exploration
Using 100M+ streaming observations, we show that breaches in daily routine — travel, moves, life disruptions — systematically precede exploration of unfamiliar music, and that these explorations leave lasting marks on taste.
Administrative Science Quarterly
Recognition Killed the Radio Star? Recognition Orientations and Sustained Creativity After the Best New Artist Grammy Nomination
Does winning a Grammy change how artists create? We find that Grammy winners shift toward more conventional output after winning — becoming less sonically distinctive — while nominees who lose maintain their creative edge.
Research in the Sociology of Organizations
What is Social Status and How Does it Impact the Generation of Novel Ideas?
We develop a fourfold typology based on how status is used as an asset and from where it is derived. The typology allows us to explore the implications of considering status as either a quality signal or a good and of viewing status-conferring ties as either deference-based or dominance-based. We consider the implications of our framework for the generation of novelty.
Research in the Sociology of Organizations
Institutionalizing Authenticity in the Digitized World of Music
How authenticity is defined, maintained, and contested in creative markets — and what happens to these boundaries when digital technology disrupts the production and distribution of cultural goods.
American Sociological Review
What Makes Popular Culture Popular? Product Features and Optimal Differentiation in Music
Why certain songs break through and others don’t. We introduce a computational framework for measuring sonic features and show that the most successful songs balance familiarity and novelty — the “optimal distinctiveness” sweet spot.
ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCE QUARTERLY
with Matthew Bothner
Status-Aspirational Pricing: The “Chivas Regal” Strategy in U.S. Higher Education, 2006-2012
What happens when organizations’ status drops below their aspirations? Rather than setting prices commensurate with their new status, under certain conditions, they will raise prices in an attempt to signal higher status or recoup the resources necessary to try to regain their status.
emerging trends in the social and behavioral sciences
with Matthew Bothner & Wonjae Lee
Emergence of Stratification in Small Groups
The development of a hierarchy in any collection of people is nearly inevitable. Status differences, however small, emerge, structuring groups in ways that influence access, power, and outcomes. This chapter offers a theoretical account and approach to these status-driven dynamics.
My research has been featured in
Rolling Stone The Economist Forbes Business Insider The Times of London New York Post
Noah Askin 