Study suggests Twitter users buy more music online

Valerie | 25 Jun 2009, 07:09

A NPD study published this week suggests that Web users who are active on Twitter are more engaged with music and tend to be more likely to purchase music online. 

The report found that 33 percent of Twitter users bought a CD in the last three months, compared to 23 percent of all Internet users, and 34 percent of Twitterers purchased a digital download, considerably more than the 16 percent of overall Web users who bought music online.

Among users who bought music online, 67 percent said they were aware of Twitter. Twelve percent of music buyers said they had used Twitter, compared to 8 percent of Web users overall.

As this blog points out, Twitter is changing the way music is discovered on the Internet. The four major labels, EMI Music, Warner Music, Sony BMG and Universal Music , all have Twitter accounts, no doubt to “take advantage of easy distribution on the platform”. It also argues that the instantaneous nature of Twitter also encourages musicians to release music more quickly rather than keeping followers waiting months for new material.

However, this Billboard article warns that taking the research at face value can potentially lead to some blind alleys, arguing that “it’s wrong to assume Twitter use has a causal effect on online music purchases. All NPD has done is found a correlation between Twitter use and online music consumption.”

Discrepancies with data aside, the implications of the report for the music industry are clear, as illustrated by a statement given by Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD:

“Based on their music-purchasing history, active Twitter users are simply worth more to record labels and music retailers than those who are not using Twitter.”

Whist Twitter offers the potential for record labels to reach and engage with consumers in new ways, Crupnick warns that they need to think before they leap:

“There must be a careful balance struck between entertainment and direct conversation on one hand, and marketing on the other.”