According to Ellis Rich, chairman of PRS for Music, music might have a role to play when it comes to things like staff motivation and customer retention.

He stated: “Music is a key element – it creates a positive atmosphere, enhances the mood and influences spending behaviour.”

Firms could see their profits positively impacted through the use of music, Mr Rich went on to say, with a “pleasurable environment” being created by it.

The commentator was speaking after the publication of new figures from Entertainment Media Research and published by Music Works, relating to the benefits of music among businesses.

As many as 82 per cent of respondents to a business survey noted that their company benefits from the use of music, Music Works revealed.

Source: http://www.managers.org.uk/news/music-can-create-positive-atmosphere-workplace

Recent data released from Hitwise shows that in the US, Facebook has increased it’s market share to 59% an increase of 194% from September last year, while MySpace has decreased to 30% a 55% decrease from last year.

I can’t say these figures come as a surprise. In July this year we released our Digital Entertainment Survey and some people raised a few eyebrows when we said MySpace was in decline. While the data recently released from Hitwise is US centric, it’s a trend that we believe has already happened in the UK.

Our figures show that 54% of UK consumers have a profile on Facebook, while for MySpace it is currently on 21%, but in 2008 it was 39% – a sharp decline, which is now being validated by site traffic. We didn’t have any data on Twitter in 2008, but in 2009 11% of UK consumers say they have a profile on Twitter and although that’s a fairly rapid rise, other recent Hitwise traffic data has also shown that Twitter has started to plateau.

Table showing % of UK consumers 15-54 with profile on each social network:

While the above figures are for all 15-54 year olds in the UK, the results do differ significantly by demographics. MySpace is much more popular among younger respondents, but key to the success of Facebook is that it is popular across all demographics.

Our data also revealed a decrease in incidence for most of the other social network sites, however there are several social network sites with smaller market share that did show increases. Last.fm increased from 6% in 2008 to 8% in 2009, while Digg increased from 2% to 4%, LinkedIn from 5% to 6% and StumbleUpon from 4% to 5%. Perhaps these sites will be the next sites to really boom, with the recent recession and increase in unemployment my money is on LinkedIn, however I don’t think it will ever get to the same heights of Facebook.

It’s clear that the first challenge is to get consumers using your site, one that Facebook, Myspace and Twitter have all achieved. The second challenge is to keep them there and while the jury is still out for Myspace and Twitter, it seems Facebook is doing the best job of that at the moment.

It’s clear from the Hitwise data that if that downward trend continues then MySpace could be in real trouble, so will they be able to arrest this decline? Only time will tell. We will be able to provide some answers in the 2010 Digital Entertainment Survey.

Now, what PopScores reveals is an exceptionally strong purchase propensity for some artists and these are typically artists who sell well in the adult segments despite that market’s relatively low inclination to buy music. Take That for example have a purchase propensity which is x 5 the average in the oldest segment (and amongst women). It’s no surprise therefore that they continue to sell music at a prodigious rate.

Listed below are the twenty acts with the highest purchase propensity. Obviously being in this position is no guarantee of success if the album is poorly received but what it does provide is the lifeline to come back with something that delivers what consumers want.

Popscores Purchase Intention

Let’s focus upon Kings Of Leon. Here is an act whose Informed Awareness is only 75% which places them in 90th position. However, their purchase propensity score is an overall 16% across all demographics and that puts them in 3rd position. What is remarkable is that although Kinds Of Leon are an act with its primary market in the 13-29 year old segments they manage to score x4 the average purchase propensity with the 30-49 year old demographics and over twice the average in the 50+ year old segment.

Not only do Kings Of Leon currently command more purchase intention than the vast majority of more familiar artists, it’s highly likely that with increasing familiarity they will become one of the biggest selling artists in the UK. Only The Killers are in their company with a 79% informed awareness and a 15% purchase propensity.

Radio has not been much help recently to labels in terms of supporting their new acts and yet radio remains a very significant force. Without radio airplay it is nigh on impossible to achieve commercial success, but radio continues to go back to classic tunes, the ones with the greatest familiarity which make the hairs on your neck stand up. And why? Because much of the new music doesn’t sound like its produced for the ears but for the eyes and although the eyes can eat they can’t listen to the radio.

Many of the recent successes on the radio are not necessarily the ones you would instantly recognize on the street. The Kings Of Leon are a good example. So its no surprise that when youplay Guitar Hero or Rock Band you find that the most popular tracks are the classics with 12 year old boys battling online to songs like Hotel California. Kids worry much less about how old a track is than how buff it is and the more they get involved the less they care about the visuals.

With Beatles music due for digital release sometime this year via Rock Band kids will have the opportunity to learn about the band for the first time. It shouldn’t be a surprise then if we see something of a Beatles revival.

There are some commentators who say that today’s audiences have changed in that they are much more segmented than they were 10 years ago. They therefore argue that superstarswith mass audiences are no longer possible.Those people should start playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band and watch kids unifying over some classic Bon Jovi or Lynyrd Skynyrd. We shouldn’t always blame change; some things just don’t change.

PopScores is a useful source of information to help inform the argument. For starters there are the Love scores. We know that Love is the ultimate driver of sales. For every 10 people who Love an artist, 7 will definitely consider purchasing new music by that artist. We also know from PopScores that people only love a few artists at a time; on average a little over 4 artists at once. This does vary with age & gender but not so much as to matter. Women on average love 5 artists at any one time while men love 4. Males in their teens love 3 artists whilst males 20-29 love 5 artists. Females love 6 artists when they are teenagers and progressively fewer as they age.

.

Radio tells a similar story. When the first jukeboxes were installed in clubs and bars in the US, a station owner noticed that despite the large choice of songs, patrons tended to choose the same songs. That was the birth of Top 40 radio. However, 40 songs were still far too many for radio listeners and CHR was born out of necessity to play fewer songs more often. The same Love principle applies today. There aren’t enough songs around that are loved at the same time by the same people. The implication sounds very unappealing but this truth clears up many of the mysteries around music sales.

So, choice is certainly no winning argument for subscription services. The “millions of songs” available mantra will be meaningless to consumers if they feel they have to pay for the right to access them all.

Furthermore, there is always the risk of overestimating familiarity. The vast majority of the millions of songs potentially available are unfamiliar to the target consumer who is generally aware of hundreds of songs rather than thousands. Why would millions matter to them? Even an advertising-supported model may struggle to attract enough consumers to build a mass-market presence. Music is unlike TV where subscription and advertising work. MTV knew a long time ago that people wouldn’t pay an additional fee to subscribe to their Music TV offering and so it was offered free as part of a package. TV stimulates us differently from music. We spend much of our lives watching TV as a primary activity while music is often a secondary or background activity. Radio still works as an advertising-supported model but the most successful stations have small playlists and drive ratings with celebrity-based entertainment and local, relevant non music content.

PopScores shows us that people are willing to pay for music if they love it. Music doesn’t have to rely on being supported by advertising or to be thrown into a pool of millions of songs that one might eventually stream. What music relies on is Love. The love a consumer has for an artist and/or song which is seemingly at odds with a volume for volume sake proposition.

In this month’s PopScores we want to investigate how many artists the average person actually “loves” and to find out if there’s a difference between the genders and the different age groups.

PopScores has the answers. The average number of artists that a person considers a favourite is four. Considering the volume of new releases each week, all competing for this “love” that’s a pretty low number.

Across the ten demographic groups that we cover, those with the least amount of “loved” artists are 13-19 year old males and 50-59 year old males. The top 20 most loved artists for male teenagers are without exception rock bands. The Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Killers, Muse etc all earn plenty of respect from teen males.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the most loved artists for 50+ males are immortal artists such as the Beatles, Dylan, Santana, REM and Annie Lennox. However, what PopScores reveals is that there isn’t much room for love in their hearts given the average of just 3 loved artists

Those who fall in love most easily are 13-19 and 20-29 year old females. These segments love 6 artists on average, double the rate for teen and older males.

Teenage girls also appear to spread their love a little wider. Rock bands dominate the most loved list, but there is also room for female artist such as Kelly Clarkson and Pink.

So does any of this matter? We would argue vehemently that it does. We know from earlier PopScores analysis that there’s a direct and strong correlation between Love and purchase that simply doesn’t exist with Liking for an artist. On average 70% of consumers who love an artist state they will definitely buy new music by that artist.

Despite (or because of?) the volume of information available in the media about artists and a myriad number of ways of consuming their music, monitoring their lives, accessing their thoughts and engaging with their product, the number of artists that each consumer loves is so limited that it must directly impact recorded music sales.

These big questions are often left hanging but there is an answer…

It lies in consumers’ familiarity with the artist. Knowing the level of familiarity is a vital starting point to increase sales. Artists often manage to sell significant volumes to tastemakers/early adopters but barely touch mainstream audiences. Here’s an example. Newton Faulkner is the current number 1 album seller based on his first single release from the album. His awareness amongst consumers (“Name Awareness”) is just 34% and crucially only 18% of consumers are sufficiently familiar with him to hold an opinion (“Informed Awareness”).

Newton’s benchmark target ought to be an Informed Awareness of over 90% and therefore the campaign should have a long way to run. However, songs drive familiarity and one connecting song won’t deliver 90% artist awareness. Take a look at The Hoosiers developing awareness:

The orange line shows their Name Awareness and the blue line shows their Informed Awareness since April this year.

“Worried About Ray” has taken The Hoosiers to an acceptable 46% Name Awareness. Where their familiarity (and therefore album sales) goes from here will depend upon whether they get decent radio airplay for their follow-up singles and whether those singles connect.

 
Moore’s adoption curve applies equally well to music consumers. So where on the curve is Newton Faulkner right now? PopScores indicates he’s got a long way to go in terms of familiarity and therefore significant sales ahead of him. This month his Name Awareness grew by 10% which was surpassed only by Kate Nash (11%). In a mass market, these are big steps.

Levels of familiarity are hard to guess correctly. When we think an act is hot, we think everyone knows about them. That was understandable when the only available measure of success was sales stats but with PopScores that is no longer the case.

What’s more, sales are a response to emotional connection and the driver is familiarity. When an artist without much media support fails, most of us agree they failed because nobody heard of them. Alternatively, when an artist with a big airplay hit fails we say that the song didn’t connect. In truth, the problem is most likely to be inadequate artist awareness. When Simon Webbe released his first solo album it took significant time for consumers to make the connection, despite heavy airplay, before the album went double platinum.

To better understand levels of familiarity, here are a few examples “we all know”. The artists enjoy some success but they all show incredible potential for growth. The number that matters most is Informed Awareness, the percentage of people who know enough about the artist to have an opinion.

What about artists that we consider established – artists that have sold platinum or double platinum?

What these artists have in common are strong songs that have helped build their familiarity. Muse had their big break this year, having delivered twelve UK Top 20 singles since 2000. Their level of Informed Awareness at 68% is still relatively low and should rise with their current break-through.

Kelly Clarkson has had five Top 10 singles since 2003 and the Killers two Top 5 singles and another five in the Top 20 since 2005. Since 2005 The Kooks have had five Top 10 singles plus another two in the Top 20 including “Ooh La”, a major radio hit.  So patience is necessary if an act has only a few songs at a time that connect with audiences. Mika however enjoyed a much faster ride with significantly more successful singles. One number 1 and 2 in the Top 10 since January has propelled his name awareness to 90%.

If you know where you are, it’s a whole lot easier to know how much further you have to travel and when you’ve arrived.

Also changing is the way people listen to the radio and the description of listeners. For many years we have talked about P1/P2 listeners, categorising people according to their first and second choice radio stations. It simply used to describe the station behind each program position button in a car radio (P1 – P6).

 The reality in today’s fragmenting and pluralistic market with digital and analogue competing in the same space offering more listening opportunities, the difference between P1s and P2s is often non existent for many listeners. Of course listeners have a favourite station, often as a result of a certain programming ingredient like a great breakfast show, news or a specific personality. This however doesn’t necessarily reflect the true TSL and from one day to the next a second favourite can generate more listening hours than the favourite.

This isn’t new. Music TV has already experienced the loss of the favourite viewer, the P1. There’s no more “watch most often” loyalty. It’s all about who’s playing my tunes, how often and how many in a row.

We’re witnessing something similar in radio. Increasing choice is fuelling the tension between the listeners’ perspective of their favourite station lasting only as long as the next song and the stations that have to run programming strategies that unify most of their potential audience.

So how can audience and listening hours be grown whilst satisfying the listener? If we start with the premise that everyone in a station’s market who has an affinity to the music format is a potential listener then it’s probably time to adjust the research strategy and stop focusing upon disappearing P1s and P2s.

In research terms, screening for a favourite station is increasingly fruitless because you find they don’t listen that long or actually listen to another station for longer while screening for time spent listening in the last week is already out of date.

The most powerful alternative is to look at a core format sample; people that love the music you play identified through a simple screener. This way the station can identify the big songs for a big audience without having to worry about super serving the wrong audience or a non existing P1 segment and sacrificing potential audience growth. Being the station that plays ” the best songs for the many” works. Easy still does it.