Nielsen Survey Shows Music Still Trumps All Forms Of Entertainment

[UPDATED] Nielsen's Music 360° 2014, an annual study of consumer habits and spending, revealed that 93% of the U.S. population listens to music, spending more than 25 hours each week tuning into their favorite tunes. For hundreds of millions of Americans, this means that music is their top form of entertainment. When surveyed about their activities in the past year, 75% of respondents said they actively chose to listen to music, even ahead of watching television at 73%.

The Car Culture

This number is driven largely by American commuter culture, with quarter of all music listening taking place in automobiles. Listening to music or while performing chores is the second most common way for Americans to consume music.

Radio Is Still King

The study also found that radio remains the top platform for music consumption, with 59% of music listeners using a combination of over-the-air AM/FM or online radio streams. Other popular platforms include consumers’ own individual music libraries (48%), on demand streaming music services such as Spotify, YouTube or Vevo (41%), and curated streaming music services such as Pandora or iTunes Radio (36%). These new technologies also support music sales.

But streaming does not lead to buying…

 For those digital music consumers listening online or through a mobile device, just 18% have purchased a song while streaming it. –  via Celebrity Access