BigChampagne's Ultimate Chart (a/o February 10th):
1. “What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger),” Kelly Clarkson
2. “Set Fire to the Rain,” Adele
3. “Turn Me On,” David Guetta
4. “Rack City,” TYGA
5. “Good Feeling,” Flo Rida
6. “Smooth Criminal (Glee Cast Version),” Glee Cast
7. “Young, Wild & Free,” Snoop Dogg & Wiz Khalifa
8. “Domino ,” Jessie J
9. “Sexy and I Know It,” LMFAO
10. “Ass Back Home ,” Gym Class Heroes
The music industry is sometimes criticized for being youth-obsessed. But the most influential music trends frequently emanate from the younger generation, and younger listeners are the most receptive to newer bands, sounds, and scenes.
And the imprint frequently lasts a lifetime. As people get older, they often stay most emotionally connected to the music of their youths, and the formative experiences that surrounded it. From a business perspective, that makes it difficult for the industry to energize older buyers around newer material, especially as life starts crowding available time and cramping open-mindedness. "The problem with the older demographic is that they really don't want that much new stuff," said music industry consultant Celia Hirschman at the Bandwidth Conference in San Francisco on Friday.
But they will buy some stuff, and when they do, they frequently have considerable disposable cash at hand. That has helped to create strong successes for newer, mega-platinum artists like Norah Jones, Andrea Bocelli, and Josh Groban. But that cash is also creating nostalgic fortunes for older favorites like Van Halen, The Police, The Eagles, and Black Sabbath, among many others.
Smart entrepreneurs and executives frequently unlock that spending power, though successfully tapping older listeners is a nuanced art. On one hand, older buyers are more wedded to older formats, including newspapers and magazines, traditional radio, and television. "People tend to stick with formats that they are comfortable with," said Eric Johnson of Wolfgang's Vault, a massive storehouse of 60s- and 70s-era live recordings, merchandise, and memorabilia. "Major media outlets still drive the most traffic."
Yet older buyers are frequently attuned to newer formats as well, though they are obviously less rabid about texting, social networking, and IMing. And despite the effectiveness of traditional formats, the older demographic is also fragmented. "It's very much the whole, it's not just one thing," said Hirschman, describing a balanced marketing approach. Hirschman is a staple at KCRW, a station that has been a front-runner across formats like online streaming and podcasting.
All of that makes the game interesting for big outlets like San Francisco-based KFOG, a major, adult-leaning station. "People who used to listen to radio still listen to radio," said Dave Benson, program director at the station. According to Benson, older audiences still want to be hip, though they are less willing to meander and experiment. "While they want to be cool, it's more important that they have a trusted place to go," the programmer expressed.
And when it comes to concepts like social networking, generation gaps start to emerge. "We haven't found that much interest in a 'FOGhead' social network," Benson relayed. Indeed, part of the shortcoming comes from cultural differences among the demographics, including a preference for greater privacy among the older set. "It's tough to get it to work if users aren't sharing everything," Johnson said.
Report by publisher Paul Resnikoff in San Francisco.
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