YouTube dominates new music discovery for teenagers

The video sharing website YouTube is how more and more people are hearing about the latest bands.

Social media sites are now the main way for many to find out the latest about their friends and the world around them. Now, it seems that the video sharing website YouTube is how more and more people are hearing about the latest bands as well.According to an August 14 Nielsen report, 64 percent of teenagers use YouTube for listening to music. But on the whole, the video-sharing site isn’t a very popular way to discover music – just 7 percent of survey respondents said they found new artists on YouTube.

“The accessibility of music has seen tremendous expansion and diversification,” David Bakula of Nielsen said in a release. “While younger listeners opt for technologically advanced methods , traditional methods of discovery like radio and word-of-mouth continue to be strong drivers.  With so many ways to purchase, consume and discover great new music, it’s no wonder that the consumer continues to access and enjoy music in greater numbers.”

The report also found the internet and digital trends to be influential in music consumption. According to Nielsen, more teens buy digital tracks through online stores such as iTunes than CDs. In addition, one quarter of all respondents said blogs and chat rooms influenced their music-buying decisions.

While only 8 percent of respondents said they share music on social networking websites, 54 percent responded that friends and word of mouth affected their musical tastes.

One trend that is affecting music consumption across all age groups is the proliferation of smartphones and other mobile devices. Nielsen reported that 54 percent of respondents have a music player application on their smartphone, with 47 percent saying they downloaded a radio app and 26 percent saying they used a music store app.

However, CNN noted that the survey made no mention of music streaming websites like Pandora, Grooveshark and Spotify.

What are your preferred methods of checking out new music? Does social media affect how you discover and share new bands and artists? Leave your comments below to let us know what you think!