I got a couple younger friends at work that are buying Movie and TV show boxsets again because they want to own and display that stuff. but not one person buys music on physical media… and if there is someone that still “buys” music its on Vinyl. but they are usually a bit older (close to 40 and up)
Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube music with playlists and Bluetooth Headphones and Soundbars are the main source for them for sure.
I Can imagine what they would think if I would tell them about ripping CDs to put on a server that needs to run on real hardware to be able to stream the music that you also could stream “for free” somewhere else
It was already a challenge to get some people to use Apple Music instead of YouTube with ads.
and I convinced another buddy to use Qobuz instead of Youtube and Spotify but that took already some work .
My daughters just listens to playlists, she’s discovering old songs which is great but she is song driven and not album driven. Being anything music driven though is good and I encourage her to listen to more. Most old stuff hasn’t come via us though except Mrs G love of ABBA. My music she runs for the hills!!!
Trying to get my similar aged friend as me to do this is equally as hard so he can play his old collection which is not on streaming. But it’s a lost cause. I sold him my Rotel kit years ago when I left Hifi for surround for a few years as speakers where getting knocked off with small kids in the house. So had small speakers on walls instead. He swapped it all for Sonos and streaming from Spotify now Apple Music. He’s had nothing but trouble with Sonos which in is house I told him to switch back he won’t listen likes the immediacy of it all even though he loses zones once or twice a week.
I went to a record fair last weekend and it was full of both old and young people, with few people in their 30s and 40s there.
When I go to record shops it is often the same.
Youngster’s (mostly late teans to late 20s) browsing and buying, but only vinyl. My son is 24 and he fits right into this category. After I brought my vinyl down from the attic he liked the display and process so decided he would get some vinyl. He has Tidal and a stereo system and at university his friends would come around and listen to his system as he was the only person with anything better than a Bluetooth speaker.
That was me at Uni. I went late on and took my system with me. Many late nights with a group of us in my room playing music too loud, drinking and smoking too much. Surprised we never got burgled as it would have been a gold mine.
Good that you see youngsters buying music I don’t see many here unless I go into Soho’s record shops.
TBH as we have already said we are niche. So this niche is small and is likely still there we just don’t see it as much back in out younger days you had to buy music to hear it when you wanted. Today you don’t but some people still will. But buying the expensive kit to go with it I feel doesn’t always go hand in hand with that. Being heavily into music doesn’t always lead to expensive Hifi. I think the lower priced end is where there is real growth as it’s more affordable and these days sounds fantastic, the higher up the law of diminishing returns sets in a lot earlier than it once did.
It tends to be the 30-40 year olds that I don’t see represented much. So many of the people I worked with in that age group like music, but don’t own any at all. Often don’t even subscribe to a music service. Happy to play internet radio.
The youth do go to gigs though. Some of my more recent ones been some very young uns I would not expected to have heard of them as they are old but not released anything new in years.
But then some are full of old farts like me.
Festivals are full of the kids too, so music is still a big part of their lives they just consume it in different ways. We just need a way that allows the artists to make a living from it as most new ones are now really struggling to do so unless you break it big time.
My son has a 30-year-old pair of hand-me-down tower speakers, small footprint, a 1980s small integrated amplifier, a hand-me-down Mitchell Orbe and I gave him an Auralic Aries Mini. They have a massive record collection. He’s just bought a digital camera, previously only using film. He reads a lot and paints (on canvas). They go to lots of music. Not all 20-somethings are glued to their consoles and xbox. Headphones are Sony 1000mx4. Both my kids have them. They keep them for years, replace the pads, eventually they fall apart. My wife and I have 1000mx5 bought earlier this year.
Exactly my observation. Although I believe a lot of these people are not limiting themselves to headphones, they also want to have good sound in their living rooms and they increasingly have the budget for that. Size of loudspeakers, design and connectivity are seemingly their main issues.
More than one interpretation of the same work - even by, say, the same orchestra under different ( or, again, the same but at different stages of their understanding of, say, a Shostakovich symphony) conductor: of course. All the time. Many. And Roon serves us excellently!
