Listening Habits

Among the strongest arguments in support of internet radio and internet music subscription services is that music fans can have access to more music of a greater variety. The most well known sites, Pandora and Last.FM seek to expose listeners to music they are not aware of but that fits their self described musical taste. Emerging artists often pay stations like Last.FM to play their songs next to similar artists. The hope is that this breed of direct marketing will turn into music purchases or at a minimum, new fans. Nearly every internet based music service provides a direct link to an artist's website as well as a music store where their music can be purchased. Exposure to new tastes is inevitable, right?

What happens when listeners use subscription services that allow the user to pick the music instead of being fed a steady stream of radio? Interestingly, listeners can't seem to break away from their top 40 taste. Spotify is an on demand music service in Europe that allows listeners to choose specific songs to listen to. Users can be subject to advertisements between songs, or pay a fee of 10p per month in the UK to have advertisement free music on their mobile phones and computers. Spotify boasts 4.5 million songs to choose from, and they have licensing deals providing access to a very wide range of recording label rosters. The habits of Spotify users in the UK were remarkable during the first 6 months the service was available there.

From February to July, 2009, 2.7 million people signed up to use Spotify in the UK. During this time there were a total of 1 billion streams, averaging at 370 songs listened to by each user. Although listeners had access to 4.5 million songs, only 3 million were ever listened to. But here is the kicker: According to Spotify the top 100,000 played songs accounted for 80% of all plays.

It appears that when music consumers are given unlimited access to music through an on demand source, there is an aversion from trying new music. Perhaps people do not know where to start seeking out new music when confronted with so many options. This phenomena occurs elsewhere in our lives as well. We are all creatures of habit. This means that when looking for music produced in previous years, we are more likely to seek out what we already know. Looking forward however, it seems that services like Spotify provide a great opportunity to discover new music as it is being released. As internet based services offering a greater selection of music continue to replace terrestrial radio in the lives of music consumers, listeners may become more open to expanding their musical tastes.

To the extent that our music habits are a function of building social connections and having songs or artists in common with our own friends, the expansion of social networking components to internet music services will strengthen these connections. Already, services are allowing listeners to share songs or recommend songs to other listeners. This can serve as a catalyst to exposing listeners to new music and fostering social connections to that music.

For now it appears that old habits die hard. Personally, I love the idea that the next great artist could be a click away. Take the gamble and listen to something you have never heard. It's worth the reward and the music is free.