Internet Radio Grabbing More Listeners With More Choices in Music
Not to steal a title from a chart stalwart from the past, but radio and records have gone together since radio got started back in the 1920′s. And now radio has expanded to the Internet. Big time, and getting bigger. For songwriters, this could present far more opportunities to get their songs heard. And getting heard can be vital to popularizing a writer’s work.
As Billboard.biz reports, a new study conducted by Arbitron Inc. and Edison Research entitled “The Infinite Dial 2012: Navigating Digital Platforms” found that the online weekly radio audience is now at an estimated 76 million Americans. The figure (which can be viewed at www.Billboard.biz.) represents a more than 30% increase from a year ago and s 29% of the U.S. population.
“We’ve been tracking the usage of online radio in this series since 1998, and this year’s increase in weekly usage is the largest year-over-year jump we’ve ever recorded. said Bill Rose, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Arbitron, in a statement. “The increased demand for online audio content, and the ever-expanding variety of that content, shows that online radio continues to be a resilient, adaptive media for the changing needs of today’s consumer.”
The new data also shows that Americans increasingly own smartphones (three times as many in the last two years), use Apple products and engage in social media (especially adults aged 45 and older).
