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Business News Education & Events The Great Escape 2015 Top Stories
New research provides insights into what UK consumers think about music
By Chris Cooke | Published on Wednesday 18 March 2015
Media Insight Consulting, the consultancy business set up last year by former Universal Music Global Insight Director Chris Carey, has released some top-line data from a consumer research initiative titled ‘What Music Means To Me’, based on a survey of 2650 consumers.
Among the findings in the first batch of results to be released (more will follow focused on live and merch) are…
• Over half of consumers place a high value on music, with 30% of those surveyed, and 44% of 16-24s, saying that “music is my number one passion”.
• 43% of the 16-24s surveyed had used a free streaming service in the last year, though the 25-34 age group was most inclined to pay to access streaming music.
• 60% of consumers overall said they were still interested in purchasing physical product, and while that figure declines as people get younger, 44% of 16-24s still expressed an interest in non-digital releases.
• And when it comes to ownership of music – physical or digital – unsurprisingly under 25s are less obsessed with owning copies of their favourite tunes, with 48% saying it’s not necessary because music is so readily available online. Though that still means half are attracted in some way to permanent copies.
Carey is now set to go into the stats in more detail at some upcoming music business conferences, including as part of CMU Insights @ The Great Escape in May.
Meanwhile, he told reporters this morning: “Big data dominates the conversation in the music industry, but consumer research is often overlooked. Big data is great at the ‘what’ but not always great at ‘why’. Consumer research gives the opportunity to explore the consumer attitudes that underpin their behaviour. It also allows a more complete view of the consumer, touching on many areas of their music activities, not just soiled, service led data. Don’t get me wrong, Big data has value, but coupled with consumer research it can be much more powerful”.
