Measuring the Effect of Age Demographics on Music Downloads

Carolina Ruiz

CUNY SPS – Soc 301

May 19, 2012

Abstract

The music industry has undergone many changes during the last couple years, primarily because of the shift towards digital music downloading. With websites like iTunes, Amazon MP3, and eMusic dominating the music download service landscape, it is well worth examining who the consumers are . Age as a demographic factor is quite revelatory, and can help in targeting the key user groups. In this paper, age group is used to determine which categories therein are more likely to use the web to download music. The six age categories selected are as follows: Generation Y, Generation X, Young Boomers, Older Boomers, Silent Generation, and the G.I. Generation. All of these are representative of the generation gaps in our society. My hypothesis is that the tech-savvy younger generations, the Gen Y and Gen X groups, will be the two groups most inclined to use the web for music downloads. For the purpose of data gathering, The GSS (the General Social Survey) will be utilized as well as prior findings from consumer research groups.

I - Introduction

The world wide web has had a significant impact on the purchasing habits of people. The convenience, availability, and customization to different tastes, makes digital music downloading an attractive option. The music industry has been known to focus strongly on marketing to the younger generations. I based my assumptions about the purchase power of the younger groups based on these trends. The research I found seems to support this theory. However, age groups tend to be clumped together differently depending on the source, as for example some categorize the Gen X and Gen Y groups as one. In one particularly well illustrated study, conducted by British Music Rights and repote by ItFacts.biz, the 14-17 year-olds (younger teens) are found to be almost twice as likely to download music tracks a month as compared to 18-24 year-olds. But when both of these groups are compared to the category of 25+, (in terms of number of download sessions per month and number of tracks per month) the younger groups clearly have the advantage in numbers. 18-24 year-olds are also found to be the biggest file sharers, with a significant 69.1% claim in this category. A detailed study from PewInternet.org lists the category “downloading music files to your computer”. Of this, 18-35 year-olds are at 42%, 36-50 year-olds are at 24% and those ages 51 and above are at a low 14%. (Horrigan 2008). On the other hand one study that I found, posted by TheMusicVoid.com, disputes these findings. It argues that the older generations, with more disposable income, seem to have been neglected in terms of music being tailored to them. They use data from the RIAA (the Recording Industry Association of America) to support their point. The larger numbers, in terms of music audience, are shown to be among those who are 45 years old and above. The article states that “The 45+ age group are currently the largest music purchasing demographic and will continue to grow. ” (Mathews 2008). Now while this study was conducted a few years ago, as are the other studies mentioned here; the trends that they reported ring true as of today. Music marketing seems to be primarily targeted to the younger generation but perhaps the 45+ age demographic is the untapped market needed to be more strongly catered to. Actually, the GSS (General Social Survey) gives some indicative numbers. First a look at what the GSS is.

The General Social Survey is a sociological survey tool that has been used by the National Opinion Research Center since 1972. It is a 'social indicator' of attitudes and behaviors on various topics. The same questions have been used over the years, providing a reliable source of information. The cumulative data is free and readily accessible on-line, and it is well suited for the purposes of research projects. The GSS's sampling strategy relies on full probability sampling and independently drawn samples. Author Salkind explains that of primary importance in a survey, is that the sample selected has to be an accurate representation of the population. Another key factor is generalizability, whereas the finding of a study can be also be applied to the population at large. The GSS follows this criteria and it can be counted to not only follow social trends and changes here in America, but through cross-national data, allows for comparison with other nations.

By using the GSS and the SDA (Survey Documentation Analysis), I was able to get information from which to draw conclusions upon. With variables selected that fit the topic in question, the steps of the research method where then followed through.

II - Research Methods

The GSS has compiled data from 1972 to 2010, making this is a dependable venue for longitudinal studies. Their method of gathering data is through the use surveys, from which their questions have remained largely unchanged. By using the GSS, quantitative research is favored over qualitative research. To begin my use of their database, I selected my independent variable as age and as a discrete variable thereof, age-group. As previously mentioned, this was further broken down into the six age categories ranging from Gen Y (16-32 which includes the youngest), to G.I. Generation (73-99 - which includes the oldest and those who grew up during the Great Depression). The dependent variable was 'Music-Get' (use of the web to download music). So in comparing the two, I sought to find how the differing generations have varied patterns of web music consumption. The youngest generations are heavily targeted by the media, so as my hypothesis, it is they whom I thought would be the most web active in this regard. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the measures of central tendency such as the mean, median and mode. Then, a cross-tabulation analysis was generated for the two discrete variables. The tables and graphs generated are as follows:

III - Results

As the data indicates, most of those interviewed fell into the 'Gen Y' and 'Gen X' categories (~30% and 24% respectively) while the two oldest groups, the 'Silent Generation' and the 'G.I. Generation' were significantly less represented (~8.5% and 7.5% respectively). The cross tabulation analysis reveals that indeed 'Gen Y' has the highest percentage (69%) of likely-hood to download music from the web, but it is the 'G.I. Generation' that follows as a surprisingly close second with 67% likely-hood of web download action. 'Generation X', 'Young Boomers' and 'Silent Generation' are all pretty much side by side with their similar percentages, and it's only the 'Older Boomers' who experience the drop at 47%.

III – Conclusion

The GSS data supports the hypothesis of the younger dominating the way. Taken into consideration is the fact that the age range of 16-32 is relatively large; but in it are found students, and young professionals. They are the ones who are likely to be already using the web in other ways. Is there reliability or generalizability in the fact that the 'G.I. Generation' was noted to be a close second in music web downloads? The fact that this group is such a polar opposite in the age spectrum might prompt one to think the results seemed skewed. One reason I could see for it, is the fact that the variable 'MusicGet', only has two categories, 'yes' and 'no'. The lack of definition as to the time frame of just when the music was downloaded, leaves respondents with little direction. It makes me question if it's not just a matter of life experience (having used the web to download at some random point in time) that accounts for this older group's significantly high numbers for having performed this action. Other dependent variables found on the GSS are noted to have categories for their answers such as 'never' '1-2 times' '3-5 times' 'more than 5 times', which if combined with a time frame of say within the last 3-6 months or the last year, might have painted a different picture altogether for this survey.

When thinking about the results for this topic and the focusing on research methods, the subject of 'ethics' was especially relevant in this study. Web-sites I consulted and search results, had a tendency to bring up viewpoints on 'illegal' digital music downloads. It is obvious that technology and consumer demand has opened the door for this. The study cited here by ItFact.biz has some great data graphs on this and various other music consumption patterns. On one of these titled 'The Low Down on Downloading' (though not broken down by age), gives a glimpse of this problem. 37% of those surveyed have answered that they do not download illegally, while a staggering 69% have said they do. As a researcher, this often gray territory in data has to be covered, though it is interesting to note how one topic can generate questions such as these.

References

Horrigan, John. 2008. “The Internet and Consumer Choice.” PewInternet.org.

Retrieved May 11, 2012 (http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/The-Internet-and-Consumer-Choice/4-The-Internet-

and-Purchasing-Music/05-Young-people-are-more-onlineoriented-than-older-folks.aspx).

ItFacts.biz. 2008. “Music consumption statistics.” Retrieved May 11, 2012. (http://www.itfacts.biz/music-consumption-statistics/10786).

Mathews, Jakomi. 2008. “Why do record labels spend so much on marketing to the younger demographic with the lowest disposable income instead of adults with a larger disposable income?” TheMusicVoid.com. Retrieved May 11, 2012 (http://www.themusicvoid.com/2008/05/why-do-record-labels-spend-so-much-on-marketing-to-

the-younger-demographic-with-the-lowest-disposable-income-instead-of-adults-with-a-larger-

disposable-income/).

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