Radio's Role For New Music Discovery Facing 3 Threats

What impact do new devices such as smart speakers and new ways of listening to music like Spotify have on radio’s long-standing role of introducing the latest new music to listeners?  Do smart speaker owners now turn to Alexa to find out what’s new instead of their local CHR personality?

Integr8 Research recently talked with 3,140 15- to 39-year-olds who are partisans to a local CHR, Rhythmic CHR, Urban, Alternative, or Country station to find out.

What they uncovered is both encouraging and sobering for radio broadcasters.

The good news is that local FM radio stations remain the leading source for 15- to 39-year-old listeners to learn about new music. Unfortunately, radio no longer wins that by a landslide as other music listening options are catching up.

There are three factors that most threaten radio’s role in new music discovery:

1) Being young: For listeners over 30, radio remains the dominant way the majority of listeners learn about new music. Among teens, however, only 34% typically hear the latest new music first from a local FM radio station, while almost as many hear new music first from an on-demand audio service or YouTube.

2) Subscribing to an on-demand service: When listeners regularly use Spotify or one of its clones, the on-demand service takes on a much bigger role in new music discovery. Only 41% of weekly on-demand audio users hear new music first on FM radio, while 34% hear new music first on an on-demand audio service.

On-demand services have had a more significant negative impact on FM radio’s role in new music discovery than all the other new ways of consuming music that came before it—including Pandora, Sirius/XM, internet radio*, and even YouTube.

3) Owning a connected car:  When listeners acquire a car with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, their music consumption behavior and FM radio’s role in new music discovery both change dramatically.

Like all listeners, connected car owners are most likely to spend time with a local FM station. However, they are also far more likely to be weekly users of a wide variety of alternatives to traditional radio, from Pandora, Sirius/XM, and online-only internet radio, to Amazon Music and Soundcloud. By far, however, the biggest increase goes to Apple Music. 42% use Apple Music weekly, compared to only 18% of all 15- to 39-year-olds.

Should Radio be pessimistic in light of these trends? No. Integr8 says Radio is the sole proprietor of a secret weapon it can deploy to remain the new music discovery king.

The reserach company is presenting a webinar on Thursday, October 26th at 2:00 P.M. EDT / 11:00 A.M. PDT to learn how to launch it.  In the webinar, you’ll also learn:

• Why the disappearing AM/FM radio at home is a serious problem—and whether Amazon Echo is the solution
• The popular smart device radio is ignoring that can bring local station back into living rooms today.
• The one thing radio stations can do today to grow listening on smart devices
• PPM’s role in undermining radio’s new music discovery role.
• The one tool radio has that none of its competitors have—and how your station can use it to remain the new music discovery king.

Click Here to register.