Why Do People Buy Music?

Why do people buy music?  If you're going to sell music for a living, you better find out.

Before I get too heavy into the topic, I have a couple of questions.  I'll take answers for a few days and have more thoughts on the subject next week.

Please post answers in the comments section below.

1. What was the last album you purchased?

2. Why did you purchase it?

Comments

[Derek Sivers]

1. Bought Peter Gabriel's Big Blue Ball at Easy Street Records in Seattle (by my apartment).

2. Heard a few tracks on Virgin America in-flight jukebox. I had given up on Peter Gabriel after his "Us" album, but was surprised how good these new tracks were.

[Scott Cave]

1. Band of Horses
2. I heard about them at a music conference.

[HS]

Bought Metric's Live It Out album at HMV because I was able to get it along with a DVD I wanted at a price of two items for $25 - which meant I got the CD for only about $6 or $7. Why that particular album? It was something different than the blues, folk and roots I've been listening too - I like their approach to writing and their sound, so took a chance on this one.

That being said the previous CD I got at a "store" was Tom Waits Beggars and Bastards CD, which I bought because I wouldn't be seeing him live for quite a while.

Over the last 5 years I'd say 95% of the CD's I've bought were from bands/performers I was seeing live, mostly local.

[Tiffany]

People buy music for the experience of the music. As with most of the replies here, it's tied to the live performance. If these people went on after enjoying the show and didn't have anything to relive the show with, they would have almost felt like they were unfulfilled by the whole experience.

As for me, I rarely buy any cds anymore. Although, I will download music based on seeing them live or just trying something new. If it's a band I truly believe in/enjoy, I will purchase the music from them or itunes, etc.

The last cd I bought was Butch Walker - Sycamore Meadows because I've been a huge fan of his for a long time and wanted to add it to an almost collection. I already had the album downloaded a few weeks before, but wanted the actual copy in hand. Plus, it makes it easier to pop in the cd player when I don't have my Ipod connector.

[Christy]

1. "The Underdogs", "Everybody's Girl", and "Songs from Thirty Nine"

2. Bought all three offerings from the artist at a live show and had them signed. I bought them because I really loved the music that I heard live and also because the artist made a special effort to personally connect with the fans after the show.

[Jef Knight]

I'm pretty sure people buy music for the following reasons:

1. The song/band triggers an emotional response in the listener

That's all.

Beyond that there are the sub-categories like:

- Band loyalty
- Peer group inclusion
- Peer group differentiation
- Intellectual content - ie, you are a musician and are attempting to learn the song

There's also the other question, which I'm currently writing a thesis on: why people "don't" like music, or at least don't like most music outside of their, usually fairly limited, personal picks.

From this perspective anything that is in the audio realm is, by evolutionary design of the mammalian hearing system, categorized as either "friend of foe". That's the reason we even have ears in the first place.

So music you like triggers the "friend" emotions and music you don't like triggers the "foe" response.

There's even a greater sociological edge to all of this. Maybe I'll go in to more detail in another post.

ps-just found your site. very cool.

[Phil Johnson]

Last CD I bought was "Norman Rockwell is Bleeding" by Christopher Titus. It's a comedy record, but the mental process is the same. Titus is one of my favorite comics and I have his newer CD, but I hadn't yet heard is older stuff and I wanted to see how he'd grown as an artist.

The last music CD I bought was the O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. Years late, I know... :) But I'd been teaching one of the songs to someone which put my mind back in the bluegrass phase. Realized I'd never bought it and I wanted to hear it.

[Drew]

1) Tonio K's "Amerika" - album download from Amazon
2) I'm reaching back lately to stuff that effected me in the 70's and 80's. Both for emotional enjoyment (remembering, re-feeling things), and a professional move (practicing with the songs, understanding the songwriting styles, etc). More the former than the latter. I'm blasting the crap out of my car speakers!

[Angela Thomas]

Earl Klugh was the last CD I brought..I love the Acoustic guitar because it is soothing..I generally listen to music to relax. I am a single mom in graduate school with two kids and appreciate my "mommy" time. Most of the time I buy music because I can identify with the subject matter. For example, my favorite song right now is "Superwoman" by Alicia Keys. I have been unemployed for the past year and facing some personal challenges and her song is inspiring and makes me feel like I can rise above the adversities. I believe most people buy music for the same reason sometimes.