RIAA CONSUMER PROFILE ROCKING, BUT INDUSTRY'S STILL REELING

The RIAA 2003 Consumer Profile shows that rock & roll is still the choice of music consumers, with 25.2% of the pie, almost double the second-place finisher, Rap/Hip-Hop, with 13.3%. The annual demographic survey polls the preferences of almost 3,000 U.S. music consumers.

But the overall pie is getting smaller, with Total U.S. Dollar Value of Shipments down to $11.854 billion, off some three-quarters of a billion, that’s beeeelion, from 2002’s total of $12.6 billion, making it the lowest tally since 1993’s $10 billion.

RIAA Chairman/CEO Mitch Bainwol did what he was supposed to do—put a happy face on the results: "This is an exciting time to be a music fan. Never before in the music community’s history has there been so many ways to enjoy music legitimately. Record companies are working with many different third-party technology and distribution businesses to help consumers enjoy music in a wide variety of ways, including authorized download and subscription services. Music companies are also working with digital, satellite and Internet radio outlets as well as with cellular phone companies. We hope fans of all ages continue to embrace the numerous great ways they can experience music legally. Of course, otherwise, they’re busted."

Rock music’s 25.2% of the market is up slightly from the 24.7% in 2002, but down substantially from its high of 35.1% back in ’94, when grunge was at its apex.

Non-music-only outlet purchases at big box stores, such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target, continued to grow, from 50.7% in 2002 to 52.8% in 2003.

Rap/Hip Hop was once again the second most purchased genre, comprising 13.3% of the market, down from 13.8% last year. R&B also held on to its share of the market, remaining in third place overall at 10.6%, down from 11.2%. Country music was the fourth most purchased genre, at 10.4%, down from 10.7%. They were followed by Pop (8.9%, down from 9.0%), Religious (5.8%, down from 6.7%), Classical (3.1%, down from 3.0%), Jazz (2.9%, down from 3.2%), Soundtracks (1.4%, up from 1.1%), Oldies (1.3%, up from .9%), New Age (even at .5%) and Children’s (.6%, up from .4%).

Legal online music purchases increased in 2003, up to 5% from 3.4%, while digital downloads were at 1.3%, up from .5% in 2002. Purchases at conventional record stores continued to decline in 2003, from 36.8% in 2002 to 33.2% in 2003.

A comparison of purchases by age for 2002 and 2003 shows a decrease in the proportion of units purchased by tweens, teen, and young adults (10-24 years of age) and a larger share purchased by buyers over age 45 (up to 26.6%, more than double the closest age group, 15-19-year-olds). Tweens, teens and young adults collectively made up 33.7% of music purchasers in 2002 and only 30% of purchasers in 2003.

"The decline in young buyers, who are the most active downloaders on peer to peer systems, is another confirmation that illegal downloading is one factor, along with economic conditions and competing forms of entertainment, that is displacing legitimate sales," added Bainwol. "In fact, a recent study by Voter Consumer Research affirmed that consumers who download more are buying less. In that study, 33% of people between the ages of 18-24 who download said they bought less music than in the past year. Now, will you please excuse me while I enjoy the dynamic strains of DJ Danger Mouse’s superb Grey Album?"