Study: Americans prefer live music, streaming catching up to radio

Image:Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California

91% of Americans consume music – and live music is how they like to experience it most.

According to 3,554 people surveyed for Nielsen Music’s new Music 360 consumer report, three times as many still prefer listening to radio than stream their music. But the gap is closing.

38% of money spent by Americans on music goes to live events. It is a high box up from the 21% for buying CDs and downloads, which itself far exceeds the mere 6% spent on streaming services.

As for live music spending by the total population, 44% goes to a combined concerts / festivals, and 8% for DJs.

For teenagers, 43% of their music spend goes on live music – mostly live band concerts (38%), DJ events (4%) and small live sessions (3%). With the 13—17 group, te spend on streaming figures climbs to 9%. This demo spends 38% on physical and digital tracks and albums, and 5% for satellite radio subscriptions.

The key figures are how much time is being spent listening on music. According to Music 360, radio still leads with 27%, followed by digital music collections (20%) streaming on-demand audio as Spotify and Apple Music (12%), programmed audio like Pandora (11%), streaming video like YouTube (10%), physical music collections (10%) and streaming live radio as iHeartRadio (4%).

However, if you combine the different streaming formats, then the new digital delivery overtakes traditional radio in engagement.

The report summarised, “Fans are interacting with music differently, but their passion for music remains strong. In fact, listeners are spending more time and more money on music-related expenses in 2016 than they did in 2015.”

Streaming is being adopted by all ages and racial backgrounds. 80% of music listeners used a service in the 12 months before Nielsen did its survey between July 14 and August 5. This marked a 5% rise from the last report.

Demographically, Hispanics are the biggest consumers, on average spending more than the general population, and also most attending DJ events and smaller music events.

Those who vote Democrats are 124% more likely than the general population for DJ events, 54% more for small live music events, 43% more on digital music and 38% more for video on demand or pay-per-view services.

Republican Party followers on the other hand are 76% more than the average general population to spend on premium TV subscriptions, 68% more for comedy shows, 35% more for sporting events and 32% for satellite radio services.

Those who defined themselves as “independent voters” were 42% more likely than the general population to spend on video games, 31% for live music concerts and 14% more for paid online streaming.

In a lesson for brands who market themselves at concerts and festivals, almost two-thirds leave with a better impression of a brand if it gives products away or sponsors advertising at a festival tent. More festival-goers (53.7%) have a more favourable impression if a brand sponsors an existing festival than if they start their own festival (46.3%).

Streaming service subscribers are twice as likely to look favourably at a brand which sponsors a playlist.