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Interesting Poll on Music Listening

landtuna

landtuna

Before our forum experts take a whack at the poll results below I will admit there are no qualifiers indicated. It doesn't apply directly to radio, music genre, demographic of poll respondents etc. But what it does indicate, in very coarse terms, is that modern music may be a dying breed and therefore (modern) music radio might have a shorter life projection than thought today.

This poll was published on MSN.COM today (12/2/2017)

How much newly released music do you listen to?
  • 4% Quite a bit

  • 14% Some

  • 35% Not much

  • 47% None


Total responses: 117,517 votes
 
landtuna said:
Before our forum experts take a whack at the poll results below I will admit there are no qualifiers indicated. It doesn't apply directly to radio, music genre, demographic of poll respondents etc. But what it does indicate, in very coarse terms, is that modern music may be a dying breed and therefore (modern) music radio might have a shorter life projection than thought today.

This poll was published on MSN.COM today (12/2/2017)

How much newly released music do you listen to?
  • 4% Quite a bit

  • 14% Some

  • 35% Not much

  • 47% None


Total responses: 117,517 votes
Click to expand...

If the respondents were from all age groups, then logic would dictate that you'd have more from age groups that have a declining interest in new music (generally speaking, 35-plus) than from the 18-34s who are most enthusiastic about it. In fact, since this was an online poll at MSN.COM, which is an older-skewing site to begin with, I find 18 percent just about right, maybe even a little high. Whatever get-off-my-lawn point you're trying to prove about current music and its staying power compared to '50s-'70s boomer music, you're not proving it with this.
 
Since this is posted on a radio board, I'm going to give this a radio answer. If a person is listening to any currents-based radio station, regardless of format, they are likely hearing new music at least 25% of the time. That's just based on how radio stations are programmed. The actual percentage would be higher for CHR, about average for country and rhythmic urban, and a bit lower for Hot AC. So it's very possible that the people being polled aren't aware of just how much new music they're hearing because they don't select the music. Certainly classic rock, classic hits, and standard AC play little or no new music.

With regards to streaming sites, both Pandora and Spotify claim that they do a lot to introduce their users to new music. So either they're lying or the poll is faulty.

I think the question in the poll can be interpreted that when the respondent has the option to select the music they're hearing, such as from their own collection or their own personally programmed channel, how much of it is newly released. If that's the question, then the results seem to fit. But as I said, then the poll has nothing to do with national radio.
 
CTListener said:
If the respondents were from all age groups, then logic would dictate that you'd have more from age groups that have a declining interest in new music (generally speaking, 35-plus) than from the 18-34s who are most enthusiastic about it. In fact, since this was an online poll at MSN.COM, which is an older-skewing site to begin with, I find 18 percent just about right, maybe even a little high. Whatever get-off-my-lawn point you're trying to prove about current music and its staying power compared to '50s-'70s boomer music, you're not proving it with this.
Click to expand...

Even though I went to lengths to disqualify the poll from a number of results you still find reason to find fault with it?

And I am not trying to post anything like "get off my lawn". I have no vested interest in radio, music, music labels or any other part of the industry. I have my own extensive library of What-I-Like and that is all I listen to. I just thought it might be of some interest. Sorry it didn't please you.
 
TheBigA said:
Since this is posted on a radio board...
Click to expand...

I deliberated posting it on the "Indirectly Related to Broadcasting" forum and perhaps it was a mistake not to put it there BUT there being so much discussion in these forums related to music radio I thought this was a more appropriate place.

TheBigA said:
But as I said, then the poll has nothing to do with national radio.
Click to expand...

I did say in my OP the poll was not directly related to radio but since I, nor anyone else apparently, did not have inside information on who they took poll results from I thought there might be a loose connection.

Mr. Frankberry can always move it if he thinks I have committed an unpardonable sin.
 
TheBigA said:
Why not at least post a link to the so-called poll? MSN.com is a huge site.
Click to expand...

I would be interested in knowing what the definition of "new" is in this poll. Did they define the term, or let the poll-taker self-define what "new" means.

To a senior, "new" might be anything from the last decade or so.

To a pre-Millennial, it might be anything that was just released in the last few days.

To a country listener who has been exposed to the term "new country" it might mean anything in the current crop of recent artists... in other words, the last several years.

To me, it is anything in the "new" music category, which might mean one day to four or five weeks.

Without knowing a few things about the poll, it is valueless dreck. First, is it recruited and weighted for proportionality on age, ethnicity, regionality, gender, socioeconomic level, income, education, etc., so it accurately reflects the nation as a whole. Second, how were the terms defined, starting with "new" (and if they were not defined by the pollster, were the responses registered so that "true meaning" could be established). Third, did they offer any guidance as to what "new" meant in real terms: "songs you never heard before" or "songs that you know came out in the last few weeks". Third, did they classify respondents based on how much daily or weekly time they spend listening to music overall (and did they define "listening to music" to include music on the radio, music videos on YouTube, streaming and on their MP3 device, or did they let the respondent make that decision?).

To the average music listener, there is a big difference between "new" and "newer". Unless that is clear, the poll is useless.
 
DavidEduardo said:
I would be interested in knowing what the definition of "new" is in this poll. Did they define the term, or let the poll-taker self-define what "new" means.

To a senior, "new" might be anything from the last decade or so.
Click to expand...

By the way there are some older people who are offended by the concept that they're only interested in older music. The Triple A format is devoted to a genre that specializes in new music by older musicians, aimed at older fans. People like Don Henley and Bob Seger are making new music that is principally heard on Triple A radio stations. A lot of them are non-commercial, like WXPN in Philadelphia. At the same time, there are a lot of middle aged people (by that, I mean people in their 40s) at Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan concerts. So this assumption that only young people like new music isn't exactly true.
 
TheBigA said:
At the same time, there are a lot of middle aged people (by that, I mean people in their 40s) at Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan concerts. So this assumption that only young people like new music isn't exactly true.
Click to expand...

At a recent FGL concert, featuring Nelly, there were a significant number of post-Gen X Boomers who were just as into the music as the Millennials in the crowd.

However, I think that the longer one lives, the broader that terms like "old" and "new" become. "New" to some are smartphones with OLED screens, while to a more mature crowd, smartphones themselves are "new". It's relative to one's range of comparison.

I recently heard a person about a generation younger than me referring to "those new solid state drives". To me, in that area of technology, are M.2 NVMe drives. I've had SSDs in my systems for almost a decade. Again, a demonstration that definitions of terms like "new" are very subjective.
 
TheBigA said:
Why not at least post a link to the so-called poll? MSN.com is a huge site.
Click to expand...

That was my intention but when I revisited MSN to retrieve the URL the poll had been changed (to one asking what genre people listened to). In case you were wondering, "rock" and "country" were in a virtual tie at 36-38% each).
 
Last edited:
DavidEduardo said:


I would be interested in knowing what the definition of "new" is in this poll. Did they define the term, or let the poll-taker self-define what "new" means.

To a senior, "new" might be anything from the last decade or so.

To a pre-Millennial, it might be anything that was just released in the last few days.

To a country listener who has been exposed to the term "new country" it might mean anything in the current crop of recent artists... in other words, the last several years.

To me, it is anything in the "new" music category, which might mean one day to four or five weeks.

Without knowing a few things about the poll, it is valueless dreck. First, is it recruited and weighted for proportionality on age, ethnicity, regionality, gender, socioeconomic level, income, education, etc., so it accurately reflects the nation as a whole. Second, how were the terms defined, starting with "new" (and if they were not defined by the pollster, were the responses registered so that "true meaning" could be established). Third, did they offer any guidance as to what "new" meant in real terms: "songs you never heard before" or "songs that you know came out in the last few weeks". Third, did they classify respondents based on how much daily or weekly time they spend listening to music overall (and did they define "listening to music" to include music on the radio, music videos on YouTube, streaming and on their MP3 device, or did they let the respondent make that decision?).

To the average music listener, there is a big difference between "new" and "newer". Unless that is clear, the poll is useless.
Click to expand...

As I stated in my OP there was no other information published except the numbers I posted. I fully realized this was apparently not a scientific poll and said so.
 
landtuna said:
That was my intention but when I revisited MSN to retrieve the URL the poll had been changed (to one asking what genre people listened to). In case you were wondering, "rock" and "country" were in a virtual tie at 36-38% each).
Click to expand...

That would be the white male bias inherent in internet use.
 
I'm a white dude in my 30s. And my response is very little new music. I like a variety of music, but mainly I have been listening to hip-hop music for 21 years, which is when I was first exposed to it my Freshmen year in high school. (I went to a high school in the inner city). The last couple of years though, hip-hop music has been lousy and I've been spending my time listening to other music I like. Older hip-hop music is better. And when a friend of mine in Philly messaged me on Facebook at the end of June that 106.1 flipped formats to Throwback Hip-hop, I downloaded the i-Heart Radio app on my phone and have been listening to the station almost daily.

There may be a couple of more, but off the top of my head I can only think of 3 songs that came out in 2017 that I like.

1. Despacito by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee.

2. Mi Gente by J Balvin and Willy William. (I actually heard this song by accident. One Sunday night I was listening to the Freestyle Show on La Mega and this song was the first song played on the station after the Freestyle Show ended and I thought that it had a cool beat.)

3. Bodak Yellow by Cardi B.
 
If you asked anyone if they listened to new music (or music in general for that matter) they would say no. I don't listen to music but I am exposed to it everyday, and so are most people. For my friends that despise tight playlists, that is another reason for them. For those that don't listen to music or radio. constant awareness (or repetition) allows the hits to be made. Just a observation.

I ask a lot of older demos if they listen to radio or watch TV they say no or not much (and online is a no too). but yet they like (recognize) and know music from Bruno Mars, Carrie Underwood, and in Some cases Coldplay. I take polls with a grain of salt, because most are answered with that thought of the moment.

Also. Who did they ask that made up 115K in this poll. Those who work in Washington, a group of farmers, worshipers leaving a mega church.

In a word "flawed".
 
Groove1670 said:
Also. Who did they ask that made up 115K in this poll. Those who work in Washington, a group of farmers, worshipers leaving a mega church.

In a word "flawed".
Click to expand...

Very flawed. Based on the current poll that Landtuna referenced yesterday, the site has regular polls which visitors to the site can participate in at will.

So the recruit is based on visitors to the site. That, of itself, is not at all representative of the nation as a whole.

Self-recruited polls, in general, are done for curiosity value but have no statistical value and are, indeed, very dangerous if used for any type of business or professional strategy. But they are fun.
 
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