RUMOR MILL
The shift in music consumption preferences explains why Apple, Amazon and Google are laying the groundwork for their own streaming services.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
STREAMING SI, DOWNLOADING NO
Owning Music Is So Last Year for the 13-to-35 Demo, a New NPD Survey Concludes
Pandora, iHeartRadio and other streaming music services present a serious threat to iTunes and music ownership in general, Investors.com reports, citing a new survey conducted by the NPD Group. The survey suggests that consumers are shifting from owning music to streaming it.
In the fourth quarter, subscription-based and free Internet radio services accounted for 23% of the average weekly music listening time among consumers between the ages of 13 and 35, up from 17% a year earlier. Concurrently, listening to terrestrial radio fell 2 percentage points to 24% in the same demo.
The survey also showed a decline in consumers listening to CDs and digital music files. According to the new data, 15% of young consumers listened to digital files, 14% to streaming services, 9% to CDs and 5% to satellite radio.
More than half of Pandora and iHeartRadio users used their mobile phones to access streaming services. And about 20% of Pandora and iHeartRadio users are connecting to those services in their cars, traditionally a stronghold of AM-FM radio listening.
Consumers greatly prefer the free, ad-supported versions of streaming services over paid subscriptions. Among listeners between the ages of 13 and 35, 39% used the free version of Pandora and 2% used the paid version, Pandora One.
In a big win for Clear Channel, iHeartRadio is now the second most popular streaming service, with 11%. Spotify is third with 9%, followed by Groveshark with 3%. Trailing, with 2% each, are Slacker, TuneIn, Last.fm and Microsoft's Xbox Music.
Said NPD analyst/spokesman Russ Crupnick: "Driven by mobility and connectivity, music-streaming services are rapidly growing their share of the music listening experience for teens and young adults, at the expense of traditional music listening methods.”
The shift in music consumption preferences explains why Apple, Amazon and Google are laying the groundwork for their own streaming services.
Listeners aged 36 and still prefer listening to terrestrial radio over Internet radio, 41% to just 13%, according to NPD stats.
In the fourth quarter, subscription-based and free Internet radio services accounted for 23% of the average weekly music listening time among consumers between the ages of 13 and 35, up from 17% a year earlier. Concurrently, listening to terrestrial radio fell 2 percentage points to 24% in the same demo.
The survey also showed a decline in consumers listening to CDs and digital music files. According to the new data, 15% of young consumers listened to digital files, 14% to streaming services, 9% to CDs and 5% to satellite radio.
More than half of Pandora and iHeartRadio users used their mobile phones to access streaming services. And about 20% of Pandora and iHeartRadio users are connecting to those services in their cars, traditionally a stronghold of AM-FM radio listening.
Consumers greatly prefer the free, ad-supported versions of streaming services over paid subscriptions. Among listeners between the ages of 13 and 35, 39% used the free version of Pandora and 2% used the paid version, Pandora One.
In a big win for Clear Channel, iHeartRadio is now the second most popular streaming service, with 11%. Spotify is third with 9%, followed by Groveshark with 3%. Trailing, with 2% each, are Slacker, TuneIn, Last.fm and Microsoft's Xbox Music.
Said NPD analyst/spokesman Russ Crupnick: "Driven by mobility and connectivity, music-streaming services are rapidly growing their share of the music listening experience for teens and young adults, at the expense of traditional music listening methods.”
The shift in music consumption preferences explains why Apple, Amazon and Google are laying the groundwork for their own streaming services.
Listeners aged 36 and still prefer listening to terrestrial radio over Internet radio, 41% to just 13%, according to NPD stats.
