How do we listen to music today?
New tastes and new ways of enjoying music — but are brands in tune with consumers?
Streaming has changed music. Gone are the days when listeners had to either own a physical copy of their favourite song, or wait for it to play on the radio or TV. Now, they can listen to it instantly — whether that’s via a paid subscription service like Spotify or Apple Music, or on YouTube.
We recently looked at the different platforms people use to listen to music, where we found Spotify is particularly popular with Generation Z, but that YouTube is most preferred by all, principally because it’s free.
The results intrigued us, and we wanted to follow up and look at how streaming has changed people’s listening habits — especially whether streaming has broadened their preferences, and whether, now music is accessible anywhere at any time, when they listen to music has changed. We spoke to 1,200 of our users — or bees — in the UK and US to find out.
“The times they are a-changin…”
Rock, traditionally the anthem of US youth and rebellion, is no longer the genre of choice for young Americans. Just 15% of under-25s cite the genre in their top 3, and a mere 5% say it is their out-and-out favourite.
It’s not particularly popular with older people either — just 11% of over-35s say it’s their favourite genre, behind country, pop and even hip-hop.
This drastic change in tastes effectively renders US mainstays, like rock radio stations that insist on playing the same classics, obsolete. But what will they be replaced with? Well, pretty soon the soundtrack for the road trip down Route 66 will be hip-hop.
Yes, hip-hop — once considered a scourge on American society — is not only the biggest thing in town, it’s also more popular with older people than might be expected. For listeners aged 25–35, it was the most commonly voted “favourite music genre” (16%), ahead of country and pop (13%). And for over 35s, 1 in 4 (25%) had it in their top 3 favourite genres.
For Gen Z listeners, hip-hop dominates — 1 in 3 cite it as one of their top genres, and 16% cite it as their out-and-out favourite, behind only pop music (17%). And Gen Z Brits are rapidly following suit as well — 1 in 4 (24%) list hip-hop in their top 3 as well.
Late night listeners and music hipsters
Young people are not only more likely to be into hip-hop, but they’re also more likely to enjoy music late at night. Almost 1 in 3 Gen Z (32%) say they listen to music between 11pm and 5am — considerably more than 25–35s (18%) and more than double the figure for over-35s.
Across all age bands, late-night listeners are also more likely to be music hipsters — they favour less popular or indie music over Top 40 fare.
For example, among under-25s, 49% say they go for less-known/indie music in the morning, but at night that rises to 63%. For older listeners the pattern is more noticable; 29% tune into less-known/indie music in the morning, but by night 51% do so.
But let’s be clear about how popular “popular” music is. We have millions of tracks at our fingertips, and yet people still overwhelmingly enjoy listening to chart music, particularly during the day. During the morning and afternoon, 62% of people overall told us they preferred to listen to music in the charts.
Maybe old habits die hard, or people just like to be told what everyone else is listening to. After all, enjoying music is a sociable activity for many — perhaps there is even scope for rebooting the weekly TV chart show.
Paying for more
A surprise: if users pay for a streaming subscription, they are much more likely to be open to new music genres (74%) than if they don’t (58%).
It does makes sense — someone paying for music is going to want to get their money’s worth. In addition, the fancy algorithms and curated playlists make it easier for these users to discover new music they might like, enabling curiosity.
And looking at openness by favourite genre, people that like jazz are among the most eclectic — 80% of those that list jazz in their top 3 genres say they are open to new music. Those that list trance (85%) and techno (92%) are even higher. Hip-hop (69%), pop (72%) and rock fans (71%) are similarly liberal, while classical aficionados (64%) are a little more selective.
Live music fans (79%) are also among the most open — and this group is not a dying breed either. In fact, going to live gigs is the second-most common way to pay for music. Again, this just goes to show, even though we can enjoy any music, anywhere, the experience is still a sociable one for many of us.
What does music say about us?
But what can brands take from this?
Firstly, hip-hop has become a cornerstone of American music and culture — popular not just with younger listeners, but older ones too.
However, with hip-hop’s full acceptance into the mainstream, has it lost its edge and become too safe? Maybe brands should keep their eyes peeled for a potential new genre gearing up to replace hip-hop as the sound of youth and rebellion.
Instantly accessible music has allowed listeners to be more independent in their consumption — listening late at night and enjoying sounds you’re less likely to hear on the radio.
But music is still a social activity for the majority of people. The enduring popularity of chart music — people still enjoy listening to what everyone else is — and the fact that live gigs are the second most popular way to pay for music, attest to this.
And factor in that the most common medium used to listen to music is via speakers, and the most common place to listen is at home, it’s clear that the average music fan isn’t listening squeezed into a train on their morning commute using earphones — even if it may appear that way.
So will streaming platforms now consolidate their relationship with their subscribers? They know what their users like to listen to, but now will they focus on how they like to listen as well?
And what of the 1 in 4 people that don’t yet pay for music? Opportunity is ripe to capture new customers. But will they be snapped up by the heavyweights, or is this a chance for the smaller platforms to offer a more personal approach to those that are still unconvinced?
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A quick word on our methodology: The figures in the article are taken from Streetbees community members in the UK and US, carried out in November 2018. All of the data was collected by mobile and web surveys, and is accurate to within 5 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
