Applying the networked flow model in a real-world music contest

Flow and creativity have always held a special link in artistic domains. Music-making is increasingly demonstrated as a source of group flow and collaborative musical creativity. The Networked Flow (NF) model outlines factors supporting optimal collaborative group work in different contexts, including music. The model suggests that high levels of affect, group flow, and social presence are crucial for optimal group creativity, along with the progressive emergence of a particular group communication structure. Therefore, it would be crucial to study group creativity over time by examining communication dynamics, experiential features, and creative outcomes. In this study, the NF model was applied to a 2-day real-world music contest. A total of nine bands and eight rappers participated in the first round of the contest. At the end of the first round, each band was randomly paired with a rapper, forming new bands that were asked to compose a piece of music and perform it in the second round of the contest a month later. Measures of affect, group flow, social presence, communication structure, self-assessed and expert-rated performance outcomes, and creativity in group performance were collected during each of the two rounds. Methods of evaluating creative collaboration included Social Network Analysis (communication structure) and Consensual Assessment Technique (creativity in group performance). Significant positive correlations between group flow and social presence emerged. Only one of the three judges reported an increase in group creativity in the final phase. There was little agreement between the judgments of the expert judges and participants in terms of artists’ creativity and performance. Flow dimensions were positively correlated with self-rated performance outcomes and creativity but not with expert-rated performance outcomes. Bands that scored high for flow had a specific communication structure, characterized by high-status members. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how group flow and intersubjective dynamics interact in live music.