How Do People Use The iPod?

I was with a client last week who said to me that "my boss believes that most younger demos are only listening to their iPods.  That is the only place they get their music.  This makes marketing to them through music incredibly difficult."

This is not the first time somebody in the marketing community has said this to me.

While the younger demographics do spend a lot of time with their iPods, the device really functions as a music EXPERIENCE tool rather than a music DISCOVERY tool.  In other words, the iPod doesn't help you to find new music.  Rather, you listen to music that you already found elsewhere and then experience it through the iPod.

For the younger demographics, finding new music is critical.  Those demographics always want to be ahead of everyone else.  In order to find new music, they have to go away from the iPod to get it.  There are many sources they these demos are finding music and most of these are advertiser supported such as radio, online radio, social networks, and online music video channels.

Research backs this up too.  We subscribe to MediaMark Research, a great source for qualitative data on our listeners.  When you cross reference online radio and iPods, online radio listeners are 94% more likely than the average person in the US to have bought an iPod in the past 12 months.  This is a clear demonstration that listeners are not just dependent on the iPod for their music and have a need to find it in other areas. 

When you walk an advertiser through this logic, you see the light go off.  Usually, the will run home and ask their kids or their younger co-workers and they will verify this.  Then, we get a call saying "Ok, clearly I need to put some money towards online radio for reaching these demographics."

By the way, older demos do the same thing.

Don't get me wrong, I love my IPod.  When the IPod Nano came out several years ago, I was one of the first to buy it.  It is still going strong for me.  However, my playlist does get tiresome after awhile, even being 300 songs deep.  And when it does, I look for new music...away from the iPod.

Comments

[Dave Harris]

Hi,Andy. Enjoy reading your blog. Do you remember Dave Harris from WHYI (Y-100) and WJQY (Joy) in Miami? Still in the business, but recently left Clear Channel with a desire to enter new media. If your newly merged company is looking for someone to handle the Florida region, I would love to talk to you. I sent my resume' and contact information to TargetSpotJobs@gmail earlier this morning. Hoping to hear from you.
Dave

[Chris MacDonald]

Music discovery certainly does occur in iPods. We run IndieFeed Networks, and we deliver over 1.7 million Neilsen certified downloads per month via RSS subscription. Our surveyed listeners (over 1,400) have indicated that 64% have discovered music solely based upon our recommendations. We are blessed with an incredibly high loyalty ranking based upon user recommendations within iTunes. Happy to share additional information. Our circumstance is but one of a whole lot of new media publisher experiences. Lots of podcasts and downloadable media are being consumed that are turning audiences on to new music all the time. Cheers, Chris