• How is music consumption evolving in key markets across the world?

• We found that music interaction is rarely a standalone activity

• Consumers can be located along a new framework of music participation

• Previously unknown, unmet needs included the activity of “selection”

• There are opportunity areas in videogame music, music-based socializing, serendipitous discovery, musicology, and non-music audio

Control or experience?

Microsoft wanted to understand how music consumption and listening was evolving. We conducted a three-country ethnographic study of teens and young adults. Music is a unique form of entertainment. It is rarely a standalone activity & usually background or an accompaniment to dozens of different activities. People want easy access to music throughout this complex context. Respondents used an average of four media sources and six music "players." Collections are building rapidly—adding hundreds of “songs” per month. Many respondents will soon have collections in the tens of thousands. Compatibility, portability, sharing, back-up, and emotional attachment will keep certain physical media alive. We developed a framework for locating consumers on a continuum between “full control” and “just experience.” A middle ground of “select” was being under-served. Needs and opportunity areas were identified throughout.