Page 98 - MYM 2015

where most music usage in the 1960s was focused
on the Top 40 (most popular songs among the entire population) niches or a focus on various themes and formats in music began to develop in the 1970s. Radio stations quickly spotted those trends in music formats and focused their “over-the-air play lists” toward that form of music and the consumers who preferred it. Classical, Rock, Heavy Metal, Hip Hop and other music genres quickly became the business model for radio stations, all of whom hoped to attract that generational cohort as an audience for their advertisers.
The generational aspect of music is easily recognized and con rmed simply by attending any music concert or gathering. One will see a disproportionate number of people in their 70s and 80s attending concerts featuring the music of The Beatles, the 60s age group makes up much of the Rolling Stones concert audience and, those in their 50s are followers of rst wave of Bruce Springsteen music and so on. Thus, it is clear that age and generational morés have much to do
with music appreciation and that those preferences, developed early in the lives of those U. S. consumers, have continued over the years.
Using the concept of music genres, this approach was tested using a data set from an American Pulse study (respondent base = 2,547), conducted in September, 2013 on music preferences. An analytical structure was used to create age-related groupings, similar
to those used in most media analytical models. That analysis is shown in Exhibit 4.
younger age groups with females gradually becoming heavier users in total time spent with radio as they age. There also appears to be a bias in terms of Social Identity which is highest in the 18 to 44 age male groups. That engagement factor declines over the years while the Emotional connection for females begins to grow after age 25 and continues through middle age. The negative Z values mean that the response of this group was below the mean for all respondents.
Using Canonical Correlation, this “the music you liked as a teen continues for the rest of your life” nding
is demonstrated Exhibit 5. This data is based on an American Pulse study conducted in September, 2013 based on 2,547 respondents.
Exhibit 5
Correlations of Genre preference with Preference as a Teen Canonical Correlation = .248
Same Teen Other Teen
Rock 0.453 0.139
Pop 0.389 0.192
Classical 0.571 0.343
R&B 0.636 0.343
Rap 0.512 0.319
Jazz 0.666 0.385
Country 0.559 0.275
Oldies 0.454 0.296
Average 0.530 0.287
Exhibit 4
Music Engagement Factors by Age and Gender American Pulse – September 2013 (n=2,547)
18-24 Male 0.69 0.03
Social
Identity Transportive
Emotion -0.10 -0.10 -0.24
Listening Per Day 311.8 270.9 291.3
Female 0.56 0.15 Total 0.62 0.10
25-34 Male 0.82 -0.12 -0.30 Female 0.62 0.17 0.09 Total 0.71 0.05 -0.08
273.1 311.6 295.4
35-44 Male 0.43 -0.08 -0.36
202.4 205.9 204.4
Female 0.27 Total 0.34
0.12 0.11 0.03 -0.09
45-54 Male Female
Total
-0.05 -0.06 -0.06
-0.07 -0.12 0.07 0.32 0.01 0.14
179.6 186.1 183.5
55-64 Male Female
Total
-0.38 0.01 -0.14 -0.34 0.02 0.40 -0.36 0.01 0.15
148.2 151.0 149.8
65+ Male
Female Total
-0.64 -0.22 -0.30
-0.75 -0.06 0.32 -0.69 -0.15 -0.02
135.2
112.4 124.5
Total Male 0.01
Female -0.01 Total 0.00
-0.08 -0.26 0.07 0.22 0.00 0.00
194.3 195.1 194.7
The engagement analysis was based on media engagement measures developed by Calder and Malthouse (2008). Only three factors, Social Identity (what I and my friends use and enjoy), Transportive (takes me away from my current situation) and Emotion (makes me feel better) were used in this particular analysis.
The amount of radio listening per day provided another factor. As can be seen, radio listening is heaviest in the
The correlations shown are based on two factors, either you preferred the same music genre today (Same Teen on chart) as you did when you were a teen ager or you didn’t (Other Teen). As can be seen the Same Teen correlations, while somewhat lower for Rock and Pop than those of R&B, Rap and Jazz, seem to indicate that once the listener locked into those two genres, they stayed with them. The others (R&B, Rap and Jazz) seem to indicate a much wider palette of musical tastes but still conform to the premise that “the music you preferred as a teen, is still the music you prefer today).
That supports our rst postulate. As illustrated, it is fairly easy to describe generational groups based on their musical or media preferences as a teen and what music they prefer today. That then, makes up our rst postulate:
Research Postulate #1: some habits and preferences generated in various generations continue throughout the life of the person while others change and evolve.
In the use of media forms, that seems to be particularly true. That nding has major implications for marketers seeking to generate long-term brand loyalty.
98 I October 2015