New Industry Stats (Good News)

Nielsen just released its Music 360 study of teen listening habits. Some good news about how teenagers listen to (and pay for) music. Some key metrics:

First off, despite all the online options, most people still discover new music via the radio:

• 48% discover music most often through the radio
• 10% discover music most often through friends/relatives
• 7% discover music most often through YouTube

Interestingly, teens listen to more music on YouTube than they do on the radio or online (is YouTube the new MTV?):

• 64% of teens listen to music through YouTube
• 56% of teens listen to music on the radio
• 53% of teens listen to music through iTunes
• 50% of teens listen to music on CD

What inspires teens to purchase music? Friends, of course:

• 54% are more likely to make a purchase based off a positive recommendation from a friend
• 25% are more likely to make a purchase based off a music blog/chat rooms
• 12% are more likely to make a purchase based off an endorsement from a brand
• 8% of all respondents share music on social networking sites, while 6% upload music.

What's a better value, CDs or digital downloads? Teens say digital, although CDs are close behind:

• 63% of purchasers identified digital albums as a very or fairly good value
• 61% identified digital tracks as a very or fairly good value
• 55% identified physical CDs as a very or fairly good value

Like I said, interesting stuff. In spite of all the digital hype, CDs and radio are still quite viable. It's a real smorgasbord out there!