Music Consumer's Interesting Digital Behaviors

Neilsen Music and Midem recently conducted a survey of 26,644 online consumers in 53 markets across the globe during September 2010 about their digital music consumption habits. Here are some of the results of that survey:

• There is no single distribution channel being used by even 60% of the global online audience. In other words, there is a wide diversity of music distribution services worldwide.

• Nine channels of music consumption are each used by 20% or more of global online music consumers.

• People now consume more music by watching it than any other means. 57% have watched music videos on computers in the last three months from sites like YouTube.

• Music streaming is coming on strong, either on a computer (26%), streaming music on a mobile phone (21%), watching music video on mobile phones (23%) or using music apps (20%).

• More than 50% globally have downloaded a song from the internet for free in the last three months, some completely legally. But in addition, slightly more than 20% of respondents aged 34 and under have paid to download a music track to their computer in the last three months. From age 35 onwards, this percentage drops regularly and significantly.

• Music consumers between age 21 and 34 will do more of everything than the average: they watch more music videos (on the computer or TV), they download more songs (paid or not), they stream music more. Beyond 35, there is a slight but consistent erosion of music consumption from any of these channels.

• Accessing digital tracks on the computer is essential: 49% of the global online music consumers access their music this way several times a week (and 28% of global consumers access their digital tracks daily). 44% of online global consumers access internet video services several times a week. Streaming music via a computer (at 36%) and accessing music via social networking sites (35%) are the next most popular consumption methods in the last three months.

• 57% of the online global consumers polled had watched a music video on their computer in the last 3 months. Only a bit over 20%, of online global consumers had watched a music video on a mobile phone. 

• Globally 22% of online respondents own a smartphone (one in four consumers in Asia Pacific and one in five of consumers in Europe) and another 22 percent said they planned to definitely or probably purchase a smartphone in the next 12 months.

Other interesting items include:

• Men are more fond of watching videos on their mobile phone.

• Age makes a bigger difference in consumer’s music video watching preference than gender. The younger the consumer, the more likely they are to have consumed music videos via either of the media.

• Consumption via computer is more popular than watching on a mobile phone across all age groups. But as age rises, the disparity between watching on a computer and on a mobile phone also rises.

We're clearly changing our music consumption habits world-wide. Consumers are buying less, but consuming more music than ever, and music video is rapidly becoming the music consumption vehicle of choice.

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