TMV were provided the following info Marrakesh Records and Human Capital will publish a survey of over 1,000 15–24-year-olds exposing their listening habits and attitudes to music discovery courtesy of the IMMF. To make reading it more fun TMV decided it would be interesting to get outspoken digital music business pioneer and agent provocateur Wayne Rosso to provide his views on what the results of the study mean for the industry. Summary highlights and Wayne’s views are as follows.
Music is hugely important to the age group. 60% of 16–24-year-olds would rather go without sex than music for a week. This increases to 70% for 16–19-year-olds.
WR:
Clearly something is wrong with these little bastards. When I was that age sex definitely took a front row seat to music. Booze, weed and cocaine were way up there ahead of music as well. As I recall the exact (and natural) order of things was sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
Music consumption remains ubiquitous within the age group. 75% have watched a music video online in the last 3 months, 70% bought a CD, 62% listened to music on their mobile phone, 52% bought a music download and 45% played a music game on a games console.
WR:
Gee. Sounds like all hope is not lost. Evidently the recorded music industry has a bright future!
MP3 players are the most widely used device for listening to music (81% of the age group have used one in the past week), followed by the computer (80%), radio (71%), TV (68%), CD player (59%) and mobile phone (54%).
WR:
And exactly how many of these mp3 players are iPods? Let’s face it. Apple runs the record business now. The labels have repeated the same mistakes they made years ago with the big box retailers. The tail wags the dog. Yet its somehow perversely amusing to me to see history repeating itself.
Radio is the most important medium for finding out about new bands/artists (67%). This is followed by friends’ recommendations (63%), and MTV and other music channels (49%). General interest, music magazines/newspapers and blogs achieve very low scores at 21%, 17% and 14% respectively.
WR:
If they’re talking about UK radio, that’s a completely different beast from US radio, which sucks beyond belief. UK radio playlists way more open and diverse than their US counterparts. The only way to discover new music via radio in the US is either college radio, which has limited to no reach, or satellite radio, which has yet to reach critical mass. And as far as discovering new music on MTV, does anybody really listen to the music from “My Sweet Sixteen”?
You Tube has soared into pole position as the default website that this age group turn to for checking out new artists (38%). Myspace (and a band’s own website) come a distant joint second, each scoring 15%.
WR:
MySpace—bust! Didn’t have to be Nostradamus to see that one coming.
70% of those who expressed a view do not feel guilty about downloading music for free from the internet. 61% of the age group do not feel they should have to pay for the music they listen to. This is more marked amongst 15–19-year-olds, of whom 69% do not feel they should have to pay.
WR:
Oops! Guess I was wrong. The future isn’t so bright after all. Expect that number to climb from 70% to 100% in the next 3 years. Bottom line—it’s over for record companies. Sayonara. Done. Toast. Unless, of course, they can figure out a way to make money while giving away their content. Which they could if they had the will and the intelligence. Which they don’t.
The average price that respondents think is fair to pay for a CD album is just GBP6.58 (approx.$9.50) For a download album the average drops to GBP3.91(approx$5.50) and for a download single the average is 39p (approx 55 cents). On average 43% of the music owned and enjoyed by the age group has not been paid for. This increases to 49% for 15–19-year-olds.
WR:
Yeah. Right. They’re lying! I feel free coming. Expect this price point to drop and that 49% to rise significantly. (see above).
If they were a big celebrity 42% of the age group would value respect for their music and creative freedom above all other factors. Money scores second at 20% and performing in front of massive audiences third at 14%.
WR:
Better get over the stage fright kids. You’re going to have to sing for your supper. And dance. And maybe even tell a few jokes. After all, Cher still packs ‘em in!
The views expressed above are not necessarily those of TMV or its staff. They are of the those of Wayne Rosso, who to take a quote of his bio “is one of the most outspoken and controversial advocates of peer-to-peer technology and digital media delivery in the world. In September of 2004 he founded Mashboxx, the first open file sharing application to be authorized by the major recording labels.”
