The Internet Trumps Radio in Music Discovery

by Felix Richter, Statista.com

Apple Music, the company’s highly anticipated streaming service which was launched earlier this week, is putting an emphasis on curation and music discovery.

In a market place as competitive as music streaming, every player needs to find a selling point to separate itself from the pack. Where Tidal’s launch was all about lossless streaming and empowering the artist, Apple focused on the human aspect of music curation.

According to data from Edison Research, the internet has become the number 1 source for music discovery over the past few years. For decades, people relied on radio DJs to find out about new music. Today they simply go online and have a huge collection of music at their disposal. By adding a human element to online music discovery, Apple is actually taking a step back in a world where much of what we read, see or listen to online is determined by algorithms.

If successful, Apple Music could not only re-establish the company’s status as a key player in the music industry but also teach us an important lesson: sometimes humans are better than algorithms.

This chart shows which mediums Americans turn to first, when trying to find out about new music.

You will find more statistics at Statista