The Radio Advantage: Music Discovery

January 31, 2014

Over the past couple of years, music discovery has seen some intense segmentation. There are now a hundred or more different ways you can find new music. Despite all of the new music apps and websites, radio has shown its inherent value. According to a Nielsen study, nearly half (48%) of all music consumers discover music most often though the radio. Music discovery through friends and family comes in second with only 10% and YouTube in third with 7%.

You mean despite all the fresh new technology, radio still leads the way for music discovery? That’s right my friends. The Nielsen study says that 94% of people are music listeners and of those music listeners, 55% use over-the-air-radio to listen to music. That’s a significant amount of people tuning in to the radio to be exposed to the latest and greatest hits or their old favorites.

Radio’s inherent value in music discovery is derived from two important factors. The first is a trust that radio listeners have with their DJ personalities. The listeners trust their favorite stations and DJs to play the best new (or old) music for their format. The DJs can be like old friends to the listener, exposing them to the best new music. Sure, Spotify offers its users the chance to see what their friends are listening to, but many people may find that their friends have a secret obsession with old show tunes instead of great new music.

The second important factor radio has in music discovery is that much of the music listeners are passive listeners. They are not scouring the internet for a new music epiphany. Many of them have jobs, children, and many other more important things to do on a regular basis than search for new music. Radio provides the music exposure to the listener without the search and in the most convenient places.

Video did not kill the radio star and the Internet generation hasn’t either. Radio continues to dominate the music discovery world.

-Alex George, Production Coordinator

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