An analysis of the online music buying habits
of Australian Internet users has been released by
ChaosMusic, which charts a strong growth in
online music buying since December last year.
The research obtained, from purchases on the site’s 19,000+
members over a nine month period following Christmas 1998, showed a
jump in average user time spent online and an increase in digital downloads
of free tracks and secure songs sold in the Liquid Audio format.
The information was extracted from ChaosMusic customers in Australia and overseas
and, according to Chaos, music buyers are 68 per cent male but a sharp
increase of female buyers is the most recent trend.
Around 85 per cent of buyer members of ChaosMusic are Australian, 48 per
cent from New South Wales and 22 per cent from Victoria.
Countries with the most overseas members are the U.S., U.K. and New Zealand,
respectively.
Music by overseas artists accounts for 74 per cent of purchases, Australian
artists 26 per cent with Australian artist sales growing at a fast pace in
the past few months.
Rock and pop music are the most ordered genres with 42 per cent against
jazz at 6 per cent, country at 5 per cent, blues at 3 per cent and metal
styles coming in at 10 per cent.
While average orders were found to be AUS$54.15, this amount is steadily
growing. The largest local sale was for AUS$836.79.