Only the 50-plus generation still listens to music via the radio, according to Quickline study

While the majority of young people up to the age of 19 rely on new media such as YouTube (63.0%) or smartphones (73.9%), over 40 percent of over-50s prefer the radio to listen to music. More than one in three up to 30-year-olds already use music streaming providers such as Spotify or Amazon Music. However, less than 10 percent of over-50s use this method of listening to music. Music consumption in particular shows the direction in which behavior is developing. Away from the traditional towards new technologies and offerings. CD players and record players are practically no longer used by younger people. However, this also shows the dwindling influence of the CD: among the under-30s, the CD player is no longer even twice as popular as the record player. Around a third of the 50-plus generation still use CD players and one in eight still use record players.

YouTube has become the preferred platform for listening to music and watching music clips. For 36.4% of all respondents, this is now the case - ahead of the smartphone (33.0%) and the radio (31.9%). Smartphones are among the most important and now most frequently used devices for listening to music. Thanks to streaming platforms, people now have their favorite music with them and always available wherever they are.

The divide when it comes to listening to music starts at the age of 40. While the under-40s rely on new technologies and online offerings, the over-40s often still use traditional playback devices such as the radio and CD players. The new DAB radio does not appeal to young people (5.4% of up to 19-year-olds). On the other hand, 32.3 percent of over-60s and 24.8 percent of 50-59-year-olds rely on DAB radio.

"Music consumption is expected to increase significantly, partly because people are listening more and more via smartphone. It can therefore be assumed that the future of radio will be digital. The audio offerings of web radio and online audio services are growing rapidly and are likely to overtake traditional radio," says Nicolas Perrenoud, CEO of the Quickline Group, assessing the topic of music listening.