The determinants of music consumption: physical vs digital

The aim of this paper is to examine the determinants of three types of music consumption: physical, digital and live performances. We conducted a structured questionnaire survey (n = 214). We used regression analysis to we elicit which factors play the most important role affecting our respondents in buying and/or downloading music. The main findings can be summarised as follows. The decision to buy recorded music or download is affected by age: younger people tend to download more whilst older people tend to buy more recorded music. Males buy more recorded music than do females, whereas women go to more live concerts than do men. People motivated more by experiential considerations tend to purchase more recorded music. On the other hand, people motivated more by imaginal aspects (who project pictures, memories and images in their minds whilst consuming music) tend to download music. We interpret this finding as meaning that consumers are more likely to download music if they feel connected to it in some way.