- The importance of recorded music for teenagers vastly declines as the phenomena of streaming and downloading music dominates the younger population.
- Records and CDs are more relevant to the middle-aged population as opposed to teens, given the tendency for individuals to become less interested in current music as they age.
- Misleading study proposes that older, not younger, generations are top consumers of downloading music online.
Due to technological advancements over the past decade, popular methods for purchasing music have taken a drastic turn from recorded music (such as CDs, records, and tapes) to online downloads and streaming. As a result, CD and Record stores have lost a great deal of business, especially from the younger population. Seeing that many teenagers have grown up with this technology, a large portion of the current teen population tends to be more comfortable with this new mechanism of downloading and streaming music. This is a drastic change for the middle-aged population who are more comfortable with obtaining tangible, recorded music. Considering the uncomfortable adjustment for individuals in this population, the majority tends to favor traditional recorded music over downloading and streaming.
Distribution of CD Purchases for Teen Population Decreases as Digital Downloads and Streaming of Music Grows in Popularity
Streaming music for free is a relatively new way of enjoying music that has eliminated the need for a tangible CD or recording. As a result, the number of teens who buy CDs and other recorded music has decreased dramatically. Results of a 2004 Buzzfeed study on who is buying music today vs. ten years ago support this claim. According to the data from this study (summarized in the chart below), the age bracket of 13-17 year olds who were buying CDs in 2004 decreased by about 7% by 2014. The age bracket of adults 50+ purchasing CDs has increased. The decrease in CD purchases for the 13-17 year old age group can be interpreted to result from online streaming, downloading music, and illegal downloads from the web. The 50+ age group remains, in both years, the highest consumers for CD purchases considering their familiarity with tangible recorded music.
The chart also summarizes what age groups are purchasing music digitally in 2014 as opposed to 2004. Surprisingly, the 13-17 age bracket decreased in digital purchases over the ten years, while the 50+ age bracket increased. This data is probably misleading, seeing that many variables are not accounted for in this study. Many teens today stream music for free or download it illegally instead of purchasing it online, falsely alluding that teens are not obtaining their music digitally. This could easily skew the data, especially considering many teens who do not have a credit card are usually buying music off of a parent's card, contributing to the false belief that adults are obtaining music digitally more than teens. The 50+ age range also generally has more disposable income, therefore there is no need to stream or illegally download music as much as teens.
Individuals Show Signs of Losing Interest in Music as They Age, Eliminating the Need For Instant Downloads of Current Hits
It is apparent in every day life that the interest in keeping up with current music decreases as individuals age. In a 2014 poll regarding this topic, results found this claim to be significantly true. According to the study, "More than twice as many 65-year-olds as 13-year-olds said that music did not feature heavily in their lives." Assuming the conclusion holds true to the remainder of the population, generally, the need for digital downloads and streaming is not nearly as relevant to individuals who are middle-aged. As people age, they tend to have less free time on their hands and are not as interested in the social aspect of keeping up with current hits.
Another poll explored age-specific preferences; the artists that different age groups preferred to listen to. With the exception of a few overlaps, as expected, older individuals displayed the tendency to prefer music from their era as opposed to current music on the radio. In conclusion to this study, recorded music is more relevant to people in their middle-ages and older who exemplify this trend. The need to stream current music is not as great. Instead, CDs of artists that the person favors can be pulled from a shelf and listened to when they find the time or the desire. Adults tend to not be listening to music as much as teens present-day, and they usually own more equipment to listen to music they prefer/grew up listening to (CD players, tape recorders, record players) as opposed to the technology teens have to enjoy their music (laptops, iPhones, etc.).
In addition, many middle-aged individuals feel a connection with the need for a tangible CD or recording that teenagers, who were brought up downloading music, cannot relate to. Growing up purchasing CDs as opposed to downloading music that is stored on a computer, many adults prefer to remain in their comfort zone and buy the tangible CD. The founder of J.A. Williams Law & Artist Empowerment, Jo-Ná Williams supports this,
"Are physical CDs still important?"
— It depends on your target market. If your market is a little younger, most of them purchase their music with their phones or iTunes or they listen to it through streaming services. However, I know some artists that sell to an older demographic and their audience still wants the physical product."
It is clear that the connection older individuals feel toward the need to have the physical product is recognized throughout the music industry.
Are Middle-Aged Individuals, Rather Than Teens, the True Top Consumers of Musical Downloads as Recent Study Suggests?
A recent article claims, contrary to popular belief, that the 45+ age group is actually the age group that is downloading the most music. To support this claim, the article states that teens only account for about 7% of CD sales and 12% of downloads. The claims of this article are flawed due to the fact that it does not outwardly account for the teens that are using the credit cards of parents that fall in the 45+ age group, making it falsely look as if they are purchasing more music. The article also does not account for all of the illegal downloads and YouTube to MP3 conversions that many teens, who do not have as much (if any) disposable income, rely on. Although based on pure data collection it may seem as if the older population is purchasing more music, not all variables are being accounted for.
Additionally, the article claims that, "...Much of what's being purchased is called catalog music. A lot of this is music from the 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's rather than newer acts." According to top charts on iTunes, this statement is false. Much of what is being purchased on iTunes (exemplified by the current top iTunes purchases to the right), are the top singles usually being downloaded for teenagers who tend to enjoy this current music more than adults. Although catalog music may account for some of the downloaded purchases online, it clearly does not make up the majority of purchased singles. The inaccuracy of this point heavily discredits the argument suggested by the article.
Although these observations do not ring true for all teenagers or middle-aged individuals, it is generally permissible to conclude that recorded music tends to, overall, be more important for middle-aged individuals as opposed to teenagers who tend to rely more on streaming and digital downloading.
The ePortfolio summarizes the trend of digital music purchasing becoming the dominant way of acquiring music, and how adults constitute most of the population that still favors tangible records and CDs. The title of this piece, “Recent Studies Suggest Teenagers Prefer to Obtain Music by Streaming/Downloading While Adults Tend to Favor Recorded Music,” is very explanatory and tells me exactly what I will find out by reading this article. But it is a bit of a drag to read, as it is very long in word count. Below the headline, the author lists bullet points that contain additional nuggets of info that allow the reader to further preview the content of the article, which is a good strategy to attract readers if one does it consistently. It allows readers to get more information they may crave without still having to read the full article, which many millennial readers value.
ReplyDeleteThe content of the article is divided into three segments that bring up subtopics that contribute to the overall point of the article. The first segment cites a study done by Buzzfeed. The author recites, in words, what the graph shows in the first paragraph of this segment, which is overall redundant and lacking of her own take on the findings. The second paragraph; however, points out significant confounding variables that could be ultimately misleading and corroborate the overall point of the article. The second segment has more original content from the author and weaves important quotations with her own analysis very well. Overall, this format makes for a more compelling read. The author smartly presents a picture of iTunes top 20 to help prove her main point in the final segment.
The author formats the article well despite the first paragraph, from title to finish. Overall, the pictures included are either relevant information that the user needs, such as the graph and iTunes top 20, or pictures that illustrate what the article is talked about such as the juxtaposition of a populated record store from decades ago to an empty, modern CD store. Unfortunately, none of the sources included are scholarly journals, but some of the articles cited cite academic studies themselves. I would add myself a stronger conclusion to the article, as the author’s conclusion simply repeats the title essentially. I would also add more sources that back up the reasons for why this phenomenon is occurs; for example, the author claims that many adults still own the equipment to play records and CDs and other old formats, and are nostalgic of the music they listened to in their own youth as two of the several reasons this is happening. While I do believe this fact, there is no cited evidence within the article.