50% Of The U.S. Pays $0 For Songs

Sites include Pandora.com . Published on November 15th, 2011. Written by Anthony West.

Once the internet democratized the access and availability of music, it was always going to be hard to get people to keep paying through the nose for their music consumption. In the years since most people have grown accustomed to getting their music free, there has been many battles, many court cases and a few people have even had to pay millions in fines. But today, people are no closer to paying for music they consume and the reality is that the number of people willing to pay is shrinking every day.

This is what was revealed at a recent conference by Pandora’s CTO, Tom Conrad. According to Mr Conrad, a recent study revealed that over 50% of Americans don’t pay a single cent for the music they consume and that another 40% pay only a paltry $15 a year for an album or two. When you consider that a few years ago, a single album was running at around $15, the scale of the cut back by the music buying public becomes very stark indeed. Mr Conrad punctuated his speech by pointing out that only about 10% of Americans are willing to buy music nowadays and that Pandora is looking for ways to convert much of the non-paying set.

All I can say to Mr Conrad and Pandora is “good luck with that”.

Are the days of totally free music upon us? Share your views with us below.