世論 What Japan Thinks

This is a rather interesting set of results from a survey conducted by MyVoice into the matter of music, where music is understood to be the playback of recorded media for personal consumption, as concerts or musicals do not feature in the answers, and background music in shops is also explicitly excluded.

Demographics

Over the first five days of February 2009 15,247 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private online questionnaire. 54% of the sample were female, 2% in their teens, 14% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 29% in their forties, and 18% aged fifty or older.

My active music listening is limited to musicals, on stage and on screen – I enjoyed Mamma Mia the film, but not as much as the stage. I can forgive Pierce Brosnan’s rather flat singing but he needed a shave, The Winner Takes It All was about twice as long as it needed to be, and the reworking of the stage story just didn’t click with me.

From the survey, putting Q2 and Q6 together one can perhaps conclude that a lot of people are ripping rental CDs to their PC, an activity that is, I believe, actually legal in Japan.

Research results

Q1: About how often do you usually listen to music? (Sample size=15,247)

Every day	31.7%
Five or six days a week	11.9%
Three or four days a week	14.2%
One or two days a week	19.4%
Less than that	17.3%
Don’t listen to music (to Q5)	5.5%

Q2: On what kinds of devices do you listen to music? (Sample size=music listeners, multiple answer)

Computer	40.3%
Car audio	40.3%
Portable digital audio player	30.4%
Stereo system	28.4%
Television	19.5%
Portable CD player	14.7%
Mobile phone	12.9%
Radio-cassette	12.2%
Other portable audio player	6.7%
DVD player	5.5%
Record player	0.8%
Other	3.5%
Don’t use any devices	0.4%

Q3: In what kinds of situations do you listen to music? (Sample size=music listeners, multiple answer)

When relaxing in my room	51.0%
In the car	48.2%
On the train, bus	22.1%
At home	20.4%
While walking	15.5%
When working, studying in my room	12.2%
Before going to bed	10.8%
When waiting, other free time	8.4%
At work	8.4%
With family, friends	7.8%
Riding my bicycle	5.5%
After waking up	5.2%
When doing running, walking exercises	4.0%
In the bath	3.1%
When moving around the house	2.9%
When sleeping in the afternoon	2.2%
At the gym	1.8%
Other	5.0%
No answer	0.3%

Q4: From where do you obtain information about music? (Sample size=music listeners, multiple answer)

Television music program	56.0%
Radio	24.5%
Television commercial	22.1%
Other television program	17.6%
CD shop	16.3%
Talking to family, friends	15.8%
Music web site	15.2%
Artist web site	13.5%
CD rental shop	13.5%
Shop background music	8.6%
Blog, SNS	6.3%
Other web site, mobile web site	5.7%
Online physical media shop (Amazon, etc)	5.4%
Music magazine	5.0%
Newspaper column, advertisement	4.9%
Email newsletter	3.9%
Pay music delivery service	3.6%
Non-music-related magazine	3.3%
Wired broadcast (Eh? Piped music?)	2.7%
Outdoor advertisement (giant screen, billboard, etc)	1.9%
Other	3.1%
Nowhere in particular	14.0%
No answer	0.4%

Q5: What genres of music do you like? (Sample size=15,247, multiple answer)

J-Pop	69.3%
Pop	36.4%
Classic	26.8%
Rock	26.5%
Jazz	19.4%
Enka	16.9%
R&B, soul	16.1%
Animation, game related	15.9%
Healing, New Age	10.7%
Folk	10.1%
Hip-hop, rap	7.0%
Hard rock, heavy metal	6.9%
Blues	5.5%
Country	5.5%
Techno	5.1%
Club, dance	4.8%
Reggae	4.7%
Children’s, traditional	4.3%
Punk, hardcore	4.0%
Latin	3.7%
House	2.6%
Other	4.2%
None in particular	4.4%
No answer	0.3%

Q6: In the future, in what form do you want to obtain music? (Sample size=15,247, multiple answer)

CD rental	46.0%
CD purchase	45.6%
Free download on computer	32.2%
Borrow from friends, family	22.2%
Pay download on computer	21.7%
Free download on mobile phone	10.0%
Pay download on mobile phone	6.7%
P2P filesharing software download	4.0%
Other	3.0%
Don’t know	6.1%
Don’t plan to obtain any music in the future	5.2%
No answer	0.5%