America still learns about new music and new artists from the Radio!
While online streaming services may be gaining in popularity, a new study from Nielsen Music reinforces the fact that radio remains tops for discovering tunes. According to the fourth-annual Music 360 2015 report, 61% of U.S. music listeners say they discover new music from terrestrial or satellite radio.
This represents a 7% increase over last year. In all, 91% of the U.S. population listens to an average of more than 24 hours of music each week, the study says. “Whether we’re in the car, at work, working out or surfing the web, we love listening to music,” Nielsen notes.
Of the total that regularly listens to music, 75% tune in online, while 44% are now accessing music on smartphones, up 7% from last year. Streaming music continues to grow exponentially: While Americans streamed more than 164 billion on-demand tracks across audio/video platforms in 2014, they streamed 135 billion in the first half of 2015 alone. That is a 90% increase from the same period last year.
Word of mouth is also important for discovery, particularly among teens: 65% say they find new music through family and friends, well above the average of 45% among all ages that rely on word of mouth. Additionally, 12% say that live events introduce them to new music.
Inside Radio Tuesday, September 15th 2015
