News

New Study Discovers Twitter Users Will Pay For Music

9:28 a.m. · June 24, 2009 · by Nick Neyland

The upsurge of interest in Twitter has caused a leading market research company, the NPD Group, to analyze the habits of its users. According to the study, awareness of Twitter has doubled in the first quarter of 2009, and at least 50% of U.S. Internet users have become acquainted with the service.

There’s also some good news for the music industry in the report. Twitter account holders are extremely music savvy and are among a rare breed of Internet users who actually pay for music. NPD claims that 33% of Twitter users reported buying a CD in the last three months, while 34% said they had purchased a digital download.

These figures are significantly higher than the average web user, and further research in the report procured other significant music-related findings. MySpace Music and Pandora are popular among the Twitter population and 33% of tweeters listen to music on a social networking website.

It’s likely that the music industry will seize this moment and undertake some rigorous Twitter-targeted marketing campaigns. But NPD analyst Russ Crupnick has a few words of warning for money-hungry music executives: “It has to be done right,” he says. “There must be a careful balance struck between entertainment and direct conversation on one hand, and marketing on the other.”