While men spend more to own music (£381 annually versus women’s £327) it is women’s purchasing of live music tickets (£338 versus £297) and music merchandise (£138 versus £115) that sees them outspend men overall.
The Great British Music Survey, an extensive study of British music listening and consumption, shows the majority of Brits are mad for music. Britons spend 51* days a year listening to music and eight out of ten (82%) surveyed don’t go a single day without music in their lives. When not listening to music, Brits are talking about it. The majority (61%) say they talk to friends about music every week, rising to eight in ten (82%) for 16-to 24-year-olds.
Brits also love researching and recommending music. On hearing a great track from a new act, more than six in ten surveyed (64%) said they first check them out on YouTube and do lots of other research (63%) before parting with their cash.
Amanda Wigginton, director of Insight at IPC Media, says: “Music is a massive part of our lives in this country and this survey shows both men and women are huge fans. It’s interesting to see that men are spending more to build their music collections whereas women part with more cash to soak up the live experience.”
The Great British Music Survey also found that recommendations from friends and family have a powerful role in the discovery of new music, cited by 73% of respondents as an influence, second only to the radio (82%). For those aged 16 to 24, recommendations from friends and family came out top, cited by 85%.
Almost four in ten of us (39%) recommend music at least once a week, rising to six in ten (61%) among 16-to 24-year-olds. Social networking sites play a big part in sharing music discoveries for this younger age group: at least once a week, 43% use social networking sites to recommend music to friends and 51% check out their friends’ recommendations.
Also in IPC’s Great British Music Survey:
• Two in three in the UK love listening to home grown talent – 34% saying they relate more to British acts; and 34% saying they view British acts more favourably.
• 92% listen to music on the radio; 73% on TV channels/shows; 72% listen to music via an MP3 player; 71% watch music videos on YouTube; 48% listen to music on their mobile phone; 41% listen via music streaming sites; 27% watch music videos on mobile phones; 23% watch music videos via VEVO; and 21% listen to music virtually via ‘cloud’ services.
• More people bought a CD in the last year than downloaded music: 72% versus 65%; and they are more likely to have bought albums than singles: 78% versus 42%.
About The Great British Music Survey
The Great British Music survey was conducted via a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK adults aged between 16 and 54 years old. The survey was conducted by IPC Insight.
(* 51 days a year based on 861 hours and 38 minutes a year, with an average of 7 hours sleep a night. On weekdays, Brits listen to music each day for 2 hours and 21 minutes; on weekend days this rises to 2 hours and 25 minutes)
