Passion runs high in India: Music Matters survey

Indians outdo other countries in Asia Pacific in their passion for music, according to the Music Matters survey conducted by Synovate. Some 71 per cent of the Indians surveyed said they were very passionate about music -- much higher than Korea at 45 per cent and China with 42 per cent.

Television remains the most preferred source for music, with 67 per cent Indians saying they watch music videos on television almost every day; 44 per cent of Indians surveyed listen to music on television.

Indonesia is another television-driven music market with a 35 per cent figure for the same. Overall, a third of the people surveyed in Asia Pacific watch music videos on television almost every day, while 25 per cent watch them two to three times a week.

For all of Asia Pacific, 51 per cent of respondents said they would listen to music more often if they had an MP3 player or music mobile phone. One-fourth of the people surveyed said they had downloaded a song on their mobile phone in the past month, and 63 per cent agreed that the music and telecom industries must work together to offer music on mobile phones. Males aged 15 to 24 years (32 per cent) are most likely to download music on their mobiles.

The demand for a converged device is highest in Southeast Asia, led by Malays (75 per cent) and followed by Thais (66 per cent), Filipinos and Chinese (65 per cent each).

“With mobile phones such an important means of communication in many of these countries, a phone that also plays music removes the need to choose between products and effectively provides these consumers with more ‘bang for their buck’,” said Craig Harvey, Director Media Research Asia Pacific, Synovate, in a statement.

Computers are not a very popular device for music in India, with only 40 per cent of those surveyed having listened to music on it. Compare this with Asia, with 56 per cent of the respondents listening to music on their computers in the same period, and the difference is obvious.

However, the presence of a computer does not ensure an interest in online music; 60 per cent of the people surveyed in Asia Pacific said they never read about music on the internet, while 57 per cent said they had not visited a website for music-related activities in the past month. This includes countries perceived to be highly wired, such as Korea where 64 per cent of the respondents had not read about online music. The corresponding figures for Singapore and Taiwan are 57 per cent and 46 per cent respectively.

“Asian consumers are widely embracing digital music technology, using computers, MP3 players and mobile phones to make their music more convenient and accessible,” added Harvey.

Music piracy remains a cause for concern in the region, and the survey reveals that one-fourth of the respondents had downloaded a pirated song from the internet in the past month, while 18 per cent had shared music through a file-sharing programme. While 19 per cent of them had purchased a pirated music CD, the figure for India is lower at 13 per cent.

Further, 47 per cent of the people surveyed are under the impression that the music industry is doing a good job of curbing piracy. However, 14 per cent of them had paid to download music online.

The Music Matters survey studied the music consumption of 3,857 urban Asians in the 15 to 34 year age group. The countries surveyed were China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Phillipines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.