Music Discovery Spans Country Demos Though Who Is Being Discovered Varies Considerably

A & O & B’s Roadmap 2014 - our just-released annual online perceptual of some 9,000 country fans – included an in-depth look at music discovery.

Nearly 58% of the 18-54 respondents said they had “discovered a new artist in the past 12 months that is becoming one of their favorites.” 90% said they had discovered a new artist via FM radio though discovery via social is certainly trending up.

It gets quite interesting when you break out discovery by demo.

Discovery is higher among 18-24s with nearly 70% saying they’ve discovered a new artist in the past 12 months vs. 52% of 45-54s. 52% is no small number but 70% is big.

Who listeners have discovered also looks different by demo.   

Luke Bryan, The Band Perry and Florida-Georgia Line have some pretty significant discovery differences 18-24 vs. 45-54. 

These differences are less dramatic but they certainly exist for Thomas Rhett, Cole Swindell and Jason Aldean. 

There are many other examples.

A take-away for programmers is, given country’s wide demos, that while listeners may be on the same page for things like artist discovery, they are not necessarily reading the same paragraph.

A &O & B’s annual Roadmap online perceptual is a free service to clients who also receive a separate, local report with feedback from their market’s listeners. For information, contact Mike@AandOandB.com or Becky@AandOandB.com.