News

Spring is a great time for data!  In March we posted our year-end U.S. revenue figures, and in April we shared data on U.S. Latin music consumption, as well as a new report from Economists Incorporated’s Stephen Siwek that outlined the important contribution music makes to the U.S. economy in both jobs and value added. Those reports help explain how the music industry is doing today and what that means for the broader economy.

But the music industry’s digital transformation does not just affect the business side – it’s driven by fans, and the way they listen, purchase and enjoy music.  To complement those recent releases, we’re very happy to share new music consumer profile information from research firm MusicWatch, provided by Managing Partner Russ Crupnick.  This data helps give a sense of the many types of music fans and listeners. It shows what kinds of fans might still prefer physical goods like CDs or vinyl records, who likes to download or prefers to stream, and even information on some who continue to use unauthorized methods like stream-ripping rather than using the many (many!) great legal ways now available to enjoy music.

This report offers the latest taste of what industry analysts and fans want to know about music consumers.  Similar to our other reports, we hope this is a helpful start to understanding a complex and rapidly evolving music market.