Norwegian music needs the radio to be discovered. Even though almost all Norwegians now listen to music on a streaming service, radio is still the most important channel for discovering new music. At the same time, fewer people cite radio as a channel for discovering new music than in 2017 and 2015.
/ 04/12/2018 / Kristian DugstadThis is revealed in The Polaris Nordic Digital Music Survey 2018, which is a Nordic survey on digital music usage conducted by YouGov for the three Nordic rights organizations TONO (N), Koda (DK), Teosto (FIN).
In the survey, 30 percent of Norwegians answered that they primarily discover new music on the radio. The figure for those over 50 is a whopping 45 percent.
– Radio is still strong. For music creators who want to reach out with new music, there is no denying that radio play is important for spreading their music to a wide audience, says communications manager at TONO, Willy Martinsen.
Compared to the same survey in 2017, two percentage points fewer respondents said that radio is the most important channel for discovering new music. The trend thus shows a certain decline, but when one in three Norwegians still states that radio is the most important channel for discovering new music.
– TV and radio have always been important revenue channels for composers and lyricists. TONO settled around 150 million kroner from broadcasting in 2017. At the same time, radio play is important for new music to be discovered, and often results in both more listeners on streaming services and, not least, more concert performances for larger audiences. The fact that Norwegian radio channels play Norwegian music is therefore of great importance for Norwegian artists, composers and lyricists, says Martinsen.
At 30, there is a digital divide for music discovery. For those over 30, radio is the way to go. According to the survey, radio has also become an even more important channel for discovering new music for the over 50s, where the share has increased by four percentage points. Radio is by far the most popular (45 percent), followed by TV (10 percent) and recommendations from friends (9 percent).
At the same time, streaming services and YouTube are becoming more important for the younger part of the population.
For the youngest age group, 12-17 years old, recommendations from friends are the most popular way to discover new music (27 percent), and both streaming services (18 percent) and YouTube (14 percent) are more common than radio (12 percent).
In the 18-29 age group, streaming services are at the top (28 percent), followed by recommendations from friends (15 percent) and radio (15 percent).
Digital Music Services in the Nordics 2018 was commissioned by TONO and its sister societies KODA and Teosto. Interviews were conducted with over 1000 people aged 15-65, as well as parents of children aged 12-14, in each of the four Nordic countries represented (Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland). In total, over 4000 online interviews were conducted.