NEW YORK (CelebrityAccess) — Nielsen's Music 360° 2014, their annual in-depth study of music consumer habits and spending, reveals that 93% of the U.S. population listens to music, spending more than 25 hours each week tuning into their favorite tunes.
For hundreds of millions of Americans, this means that music is their top form of entertainment. When surveyed about their activities in the past year, 75% of respondents said they actively chose to listen to music, even ahead of watching television at 73%.
This wide number is driven largely by American commuter culture, with quarter of all music listening taking place in automobiles. Listening to music or while performing chores is the second most common way for Americans to consume music.
The study also found that radio remains the top platform for music consumption, with 59% of music listeners using a combination of over-the-air AM/FM or online radio streams. Other popular platforms include consumers’ own individual music libraries (48%), on demand streaming music services such as Spotify, YouTube or Vevo (41%), and curated streaming music services such as Pandora or iTunes Radio (36%). These new technologies also support music sales. For those digital music consumers listening online or through a mobile device, 18% have purchased a song while streaming it. – Staff Writers