Study: College Students More Willing To Pay For Music Streaming

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College students are more willing to pay for music streaming services than non-students, according to a Monmouth University analysis of MusicWatch Inc.’s Annual Music Study, which surveyed 5000 Americans 13 and over, including over 700 college students.

The study revealed that 3 out of 4 college students (77 percent) found some feature that would motivate them to pay for a premium music streaming service compared to 46 percent of overall streaming users.

Broad accessibility, ease-of-use, getting music they want right away and music discovery are key benefits students see from free or ad-supported music streaming. However, they would be more likely to convert to premium services if it was harder to get their music from free services, if the paid services offered more choices or if music wasn’t available from the free versions until later. Bundling the subscription fees with their mobile bills was also cited as an incentive to upgrade to a paid service, and the study also showed that free trials are a key lever in moving students from free to paid subscriptions.

The Monmouth University analysis was conducted by Joe Rapolla, chair of the Music and Theater Arts Department and director of its popular Music Industry Program.

“The data shows that price isn’t necessarily the barrier,” Rapolla said. “However, given that many students are satisfied with the music they can get from the free, ad-supported options, and so many have come to rely on video streaming services to get their music, the value-proposition of premium streaming services becomes imperative to communicate. Free is a price point that needs to strategically and carefully co-exist with other price points.”

Despite the perception that college students might only be streaming music, the study showed that they are actually engaging in a variety of ways. Yes, they stream, but they also listen to CDs or their collection of digital downloads. One in five full-time college students bought a CD last year, and 25 percent are still buying paid downloads.