Turn on, tune in: radio still the dominant way that people discover new music

A new report by Nielsen concludes that although some consider the format to be dying, radio is still the dominant way that people discover new music – in the United States, at least.

The Data for Music 360 report was collected via 3,000 online consumer surveys across the United States. The results, however, vary wildly when you hone in on the teenage market: although overall, 48% of people discover music most often through the radio (compared to 10% through friends/relatives and 7% through YouTube), amongst teenagers, YouTube is the most listened to source of music. Unsurprisingly (and probably fairly), digital music is seen as better value than physical CD, while music fans aged over 55 have cut back on spending money on music most as a result of the world’s varying economy problems – 41% claiming to have reduced their spending on music “to a large degree”.

What follows is the sample list of results from the survey provided by Nielsen’s website; readers eager to know more can contact Nielsen here to request more information.

Radio is still the dominant way people discover music

48% discover music most often through the radio
10% discover music most often through friends/relatives
7% discover music most often through YouTube

More teens listen to music through YouTube than through any other source

64% of teens listen to music through YouTube
56% of teens listen to music on the radio
53% of teens listen to music through iTunes
50% of teens listen to music on CD

Positive recommendations from a friend are most likely to influence purchase decisions

54% are more likely to make a purchase based off a positive recommendation from a friend
25% are more likely to make a purchase based off a music blog/chat rooms
12% are more likely to make a purchase based off an endorsement from a brand
8% of all respondents share music on social networking sites, while 6% upload music.

Music player apps are most prevalent, followed by radio and music store apps

54% have music player apps on their smartphones
47% have radio apps on their smartphones
26% have music store apps on their smartphones

Males purchase rock music most often, while females prefer top 40

38% of males purchase rock most often
15% of females (compared to 9% of males) purchase top 40 most often

Digital music is seen as a slightly better value than a physical CD

63% of purchasers identified digital albums as a very or fairly good value
61% identified digital tracks as a very or fairly good value
55% identified physical CDs as a very or fairly good value

Younger consumers who do buy digital tracks, are more likely to purchase new music immediately after its release

33% of teens purchased a digital track within one week of release
21% of persons 18+ purchased a digital track within one week of release

36% of teens have bought a CD in the last year; 51% of teens have purchased some kind of music download

18-24 year olds are most likely to attend a music event (among those who attend any type of live event)

7% attending once a week or more
30% attending once a month

Although 18-24 year olds attend more live events, teens are more likely to purchase T-shirts and posters while there.

54% (compared to 46% of 18-24 year olds) of teen attendees purchase concert tees
14% (compared to 7% of 18-24 year olds) of teen attendees purchase concert posters

Listeners enjoy hearing movie soundtracks over music related TV shows or video games