Consumers interested in discovering new music, but better tools needed

NEW YORK, March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Orpheus Media Research (OMR), an advanced music research and development company that automates the search, analysis, and discovery of music, announced today the results of its consumer survey, which revealed that consumers are interested in learning about new music and are actively using available tools, but that finding new music and artists can be hard to do.

The survey polled 500 US consumers to explore their perceptions of music streaming services, search and discovery platforms, and the role music plays in their lives.  Thirty-five percent of the respondents rated themselves as music enthusiasts or savants, while only 4 percent considered themselves indifferent to music.

Fifty-four percent of the respondents have used a music recommendation tool and, of those, 40 percent use it either daily or a few times per week. Notably, 77 percent have discovered new music while using a recommendation tool, and 92 percent continue to listen to that new music, often recommending it to others.  Yet, these respondents feel that the accuracy of available recommendation tools is lacking with 40 percent saying that the results are accurate 50 percent or less of the time.  Other challenges identified were the time it takes to search (27 percent) and receiving too many results from a search (24 percent).

Of the 87 percent of respondents who actively search out new music, 22 percent find it difficult or nearly impossible to discover new, unheard-of music that they like.  

When asked if they would go to a single web site and match their current favorite songs to new artists and music that they have not heard before, 43 percent of the respondents said that they would likely or very likely use that web site.

"People clearly expect more from music recommendation systems," said Dr. Greg Wilder, founder and Chief Science Officer at OMR.  "Current search technology is expensive and limited to subjective descriptions of music, which are often just not good enough. We are focused on changing that."

Additional Findings

• 57 percent of the respondents indicated that they most often relied on radio or word of mouth to learn about new music; 14 percent indicated that they relied on mainstream media
• 59 percent identify music as playing a key role in their social life
• 40 percent are interested in finding new ways to discover new music
• 40 percent have more than 1,000 songs (tracks) in their personal music library
• 44 percent listen to music at work
• 82 percent identified radio as the greatest single influence of their music listening
• 82 percent feel that the music industry is doing an average to poor job in their ability to identify good music
• 44 percent rate their friends as good or excellent at identifying good music

About the Survey

Conducted in February 2011, the survey polled 500 US consumers aged 18 and above, identifying respondents' current music habits and the role music plays in their lives. Forty percent of the respondents listen to music more than 3 hours per day.

About Orpheus Media Research

Orpheus Media Research is an advanced music research and development company that automates the search, analysis, and discovery of commercial-use music. Clio™ (OMR's latest product – coming soon) is the only pure music-to-music search and discovery platform that uses music to find music, producing higher quality matches and analyzing music up to 1000x faster than existing keyword search technology.  Clio combines deep musical expertise with adaptive technology to deliver highly accurate and relevant matches based on mood and emotion.  Created by musicians, Clio is the first platform to look at musical context and grammar to understand/interpret musical mood.  By referencing the music directly, matches are more accurate and large catalogs of music can be quickly analyzed with or without metatags. For more information, visit www.mynamusic.com

SOURCE Orpheus Media Research

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