Older people are more likely to subscribe to Apple Music than their younger counterparts, claims a new survey by Jackdaw Research.
According to Jackdaw’s findings, 62 percent of survey respondents under the age of 35 have already canceled Apple’s streaming music service. However, an impressive 67 percent of respondents aged 35 and up have transitioned to paying subscribers after the three-month trial period.
It should be noted that Jackdaw’s pool of respondents is quite small. Since the total number of people surveyed was under 1,000, the firm notes that “the overall findings should not be viewed as being 100% representative of real-world patterns.”
If the results do scale, however, it’s interesting because of what it suggests about the early paying adopters for Apple Music — who aren’t necessarily the youngsters that have traditionally been Apple’s early adopters.
Personally, it makes perfect sense. Apple Music comes pre-installed on devices, which makes it more accessible. It’s also more likely that older customers who are new to streaming have yet to get tied into a service (such as Spotify) they already like; have more disposable income; and are less tolerant of the ads that come with other free services.
I don’t have any data to support this, but I’d be surprised if older customers didn’t prove a more consistent audience than younger ones. While younger customers are more likely to jump from trend to trend — which is exactly what we see with “flavor of the month” social networks — older customers have more stickability. In other words, this is far from a bad base for Apple to work from.
Even if it does make it awfully tempting to title stories like this “Get off iLawn” or similar.
You can read Jackdaw’s complete study here.
Via: Quartz
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
8 responses to “Down with the kids? Apple Music is more popular with older people”
I used to buy several albums per week when I was a kid.
This surprises me. As an “older person” I like owning my music.. the concept of “renting” doesn’t sit well with me, but I subscribed anyway (mostly because my wife caught on to the concept and could care less about owning her music). I would think this reflects the idea that younger people have already selected a service and haven’t decided to move to Apple, or that younger people can’t afford the service (or more than one service, going back to the idea they haven’t moved to Apple from something like a Spotify)
In other words does this same thing apply to Spotify? Is it the theory of renting music that appeals to older people, or is it just that older people are quicker to adopt Apple’s version (and younger people may indeed follow).
I think older people just don’t know any better, which is why they chose Apple Music. I think the younger folks who know better either use a free service like Pandora, Slacker, Spotify freemium, or YouTube. Also, I think younger folks who know better and decided to pay for a service use Spotify.
Speaking as and old guy who is subscribed, coming from an age where we bought things we liked and would travel miles to the mall to buy music, ten bucks a month for “all you can eat” is a bargain and well worth the money.
I still have the option to buy the music I want, but you can’t beat ten bucks to eliminate the chance of buying a bad album for a single track; not to mention the sheer discovery aspect of it.
I have found new music thanks to Apple Music I wouldn’t have encountered any other way.
That, and I happen to love July Adenuga on Beats 1.
I’d rather not spend money when I can just pull up a YouTube video of the songs I want or find a playlist there. Plus the free options like Pandora and Spotify or free radio over the internet
I’m actually a 35+ y/o that dropped the service before the trial period was over. I encountered too many glitches, and I found the sound of the music I downloaded for off-line use to be of VERY poor quality. And, I didn’t like the the playlists that it curated for me either, even after spending all that time clicking on my likes and dislikes. I wanted to Apple Music, but I’ll wait a while until the service is much improved. Until then, Pandora will suffice. I like its’ pre-curated playlists much better.
35 and older is exactly what Apple Music demographic should be right now. The service is tailored to pull in people who have connections to established artists and keep them interested. Just look at how the “For You” service is set up. Serve up lots of familiar. Not too much new and offer the new in bite size. This kind of gives away Apple’s strategy. It’s designed to pull in and please the 35+. Why? A couple of reasons. First, they are obviously the people who have money to spend. Second, they are the ones who would gravitate more to a service like Apple Music because they aren’t too accustomed too all the free sound places (Spotify/Youtube/Soundcloud/whatever). They are an easy catch.
Third and most important for long term strategy. Apple wants them because of their listening habits. Predictable and leaning to the established. Why is this important for Apple? I think it’s because want to show the record companies that there is money in streaming, but more importantly that the money is going to their artists, the established ones. The big major label acts and the back catalogue artists. Spotify is famous for having a large portion of all streams being new and independent artists. This is NOT what record companies want to see. Apple want to win the trust and confidence of the labels. Apple wants to show them their artists still matter. Apple hopes this in turn will get them more exclusives, heck maybe even the Beatles. Eventually this might lead to Apple being the dominating force in the music streaming landscape. This is the point that Apple can and will stop pleasing the powers that be and drop established acts and be more like Spotify is now. At that point they can build a more progressive and dynamic music service that might appeal to the younger crowds. Right now they need to give the record companies what they want, only for a little while. Also Beats 1 is just windows dressing to give the illusion Apple Music is about new music. The real money and streams are generated from the For You tab, There’s a reason it’s the first one and there is a reason why it is set up the way it is.
As an older person, I will tell you why I am subscribed. The family plan. I’ve got 4 kids and only paying 14.95 for them. Do you realize how much money I am saving on itunes cards? Apple music is getting the older audience because we’re the ones paying for our kids.