The UK is the world’s most competitive digital music market. With more than 70 legal digital services, it is able to cater for a wide variety of music fans. By 2013, a fifth of all British music buyers had switched to digital music and almost 3 in 10 people in the UK had purchased downloads or streamed music content legally. Digital downloads have single-handedly revived the UK singles market with downloads accounting for 99.6% of singles sold in 2013. Furthermore, as part of the music industry’s increasingly diverse mix of revenue streams, subscription services are going from strength to strength. The music streaming market is now worth more than £49m to British record labels, accounting for 15.2% of digital trade income in 2013. These figures attest to the growing acceptance of a digital music model that is moving from one based largely on ownership, to a multifaceted model based around access.
However, amid the increasing consumption of digital music, physical formats still persist as the preferred means of acquiring, storing and listening to music for many consumers. Physical format sales still account for the majority of industry revenue, and despite global physical sales declining, major markets including the UK are witnessing the rate of decline slowing down. Interestingly, while vinyl sales only account for a small percentage of overall industry revenues, in recent years UK Vinyl sales have increased, suggesting that vinyl has a continued life as a niche product. Predictably, young people spend more on digital music than the older generation, who remain the most active in the CD market. However, according to industry research, most music downloaders, even those who are young, still appreciate physical formats and purchase their favourite artists’ CDs.
While there is a lot of extant literature on the consumer’s decision to pirate music, there has been comparatively little research done to explore why people purchase music. Certainly, given the ubiquitous nature of music piracy, the focus on the motivations for engaging in such activities was warranted. However, in light of the current success of the music industry’s new business models, the revival of the physical format market, and the decreasing numbers of people downloading music illegally, there needs to be a switch in academic focus.....
So thats what I did I asked 10 university students who purchased a subscription to the streaming service, 10 who legally downloaded their music, and 10 who either bought CD's or Vinyl. Here are the main findings;
What are the motivations for students to pay for music?
Reciprocity: Reciprocity refers to responding to a positive action with another positive action, or simply rewarding kind actions. In this in this case, this was the payment of a song or album. A reoccurring belief among the students was that they should give the artist something in return for the time and effort that they put into the music. For example:
‘The artist put in a specific amount of effort into their work and therefore they should be rewarded for that, if I was in their position I would not want people to illegal download my music.’
Morality: Among the students their was a belief that remuneration is required for any product that one benefits from.
‘..its like any kinda product, like say I spend time making a table then I put it on the market then someone goes and steals it or just uses it for free for a long time without paying it, that is just wrong, so I think its that aspect of it that makes me wanna buy the music.’
Supporting the artist: The need to support the artist was quite often associated with reciprocity.
‘Its an appreciation of the time and effort and I want to support them for that... but also like if people didn’t pay for music people wouldn’t be able to make music, so it (paying) is way of keeping it going, you need to support it.’
Quality: Another motivation for music payment was the quality of the music that one received when using legitimate sources to acquire it.
‘Probably the fact that is good quality I mean the company is accountable to give you a good quality CD or download, I mean you get it organised you get the name, you get the cover, you get the details on it. Say if it was an artist’s painting I wouldn’t want to get a fake print of it I would want to buy the real thing and that’s to do with quality.'
Motivations for paying for Subscription-Based Streaming?
Price: The monthly subscription fee (Price) was mentioned by all of the participants who had a subscription account as an important reason why they choose to pay for music in this format.
‘I cannot really afford to buy every single song. ..At the end of the day buying a Cd or digitally downloading music is quite expensive. A CD is $ 9.99 whereas spotify for a student is $4.95, you are getting a wider range for half the price... I have they whole discography.’
The music library: The access to a massive catalogue of songs was a big motivating factor for the students who used subscription services
‘The potential music you can have is massive but its very easy to make it bitesize, its a huge library but its easy to sit down with a book and get good stuff out it’.
Sampling: The ability to sample new songs and listen to music recommend to them by their friends, also drove these students to use these services.
‘ I experiment more with songs now . Say I like a song from one particular artist I can be like let me click through their others to see if I like the rest.’
New music discovery: The ability to sample music was directly connected to the ability to discover new music on streaming services.
‘There is a feature with spotify which I use a lot called spotify radio. Say I have a song that I really enjoy you click radio and then they come up with a whole range of songs that are similar, which I can I listen to... it gives you the ability to discover music.’
However, although music discovery was mentioned by all the respondents, like sampling music, it was not identified as a primary motivation by any of the students for streaming music, as one student put it, ‘ I rarely go free browsing on spotify, I usually know what I want to listen to first’.
What are the motivation for people paying for Digital Downloads?
Ease: Ease of downloading music was often mentioned in respect to being able to have the music almost instantaneously. Many students discussed the speed you can download music in comparison to purchasing a CD or vinyl.
‘even if you buy it online its more hassle to wait for the CD to come to your house, but also you still have to burn it to your computer to put it on your Ipod. I guess with an MP3 you can get it instantaneously’.
Accessibility: Students relished in the fact that they could have their music in one device that could ‘go everywhere and anywhere’ with them.
‘As a student I am always on the move, so having individual CDs is not always convenient, need to have my music on one device’.
Unbundled music: This was an important motivation for all the students who typically purchased singles. These students saw it as means of avoiding the songs on an artsist’s album that they were not fond of, chart music, or just liked ‘the freedom to buy one song from different albums’.
‘I am not really an album buying person I just like to pick out songs basically that I enjoy.. I think that’s one of the main reasons why I like to download my music.’
What are the motivations for paying for music in physical format?
Tangibility: Students valued the ability to hold the product that they had purchased, many perceived the CD or Vinly to be more ‘real’. The idea of a real, tangible product was often juxtaposed with the intangibility of digital music.
‘..its just when you see it physically I think that you appreciate the fact that.. you have something in your hand and you can be like yeah something this is real, when you download music its just like what have I spent my money on’
Given that Vinly is an analogue format, the ability to touch the music was particularly important for students who brought vinyl.
‘I guess its the physicality of it, I like the fact I got a record bag of tunes that I flick through.. the feel of it, the touch of it, it’s a bit more hands on especially when you are mixing or just changing the records over’.
This feeling of control stemming from the physical nature of vinyl, relates to another benefit physical formats tangibility; ownership. These students placed a premium on the feeling of ownership when it came to music, a feeling that they felt only physical formats could provide them.
‘I am more inclined to purchase a CD because it feels more like its yours than a digital copy, when you have a hard copy you truly know its yours’
The holistic experience:The physicality or aesthetic value could not be divorced from the other elements which make, a CD a CD, or, a Vinyl a Vinyl. In other words, some students were motivated to buy music in physical formats for the holistic experience.
‘I like the package as a whole because sometimes they come with fold up posters you get as part of the booklet I like kinda seeing the personal written down seeing who was involved in making it, I like having the lyrics.... the physical copy seems more of a full artform'
Adding to one's collection: The final motivation identified for purchasing a CD or Vinyl music was for adding to ones’s collection. Some students purely liked amassing a large variety of CDs or Vinyl which they admire in their room.
‘I like the idea of having a visual physical collection of music. I like to look at my CD covers, I like to open them up and look at the booklet’
Recommendations and Implications
Despite the general move from physical to digital music, the music industry should not whole heartedly abandon physical formats. In the coming years, CDs could become niche products sold alongside merchandise at live events. This retail method could be particular effective for well-established bands who have a large following of dedicated fans. With respects to vinyls, record labels should start to offer vinyl versions of their artists’ albums. However, these should be limited editions given that their seen as collectables. Moreover, the power of brand equity when it comes to well-established artists must not be overlooked. The traditional tactic of releasing a few songs before an album is perhaps no longer as necessary to guarantee album sales. Students said that they were more now willing to pre-order an album of a big artist, before hearing any promotional singles. Finally, in light of the price sensitivity of most students, music retailers should consider subsidising the price of music for this particular consumer group. The student discount that spotify is currently offering has been very an effective way of attracting students to use their services.
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