Country Music Fans Increase Time Spent Listening, According to CMA Study

Fans are spending more time listening to country music, according to a new study by the Country Music Association released Tuesday (Feb. 4).

The survey compiled data from a sample of 12,100 people age 18 and older across the nation who listen to country music at least once a month. The results showed 27% of respondents reported listening to the genre daily — marking 8% growth from the 25% reported in May 2019. This increased listenership was seen specifically among 18-to-34-year-olds and 50-to-64-year-olds, according to the study’s first reporting period.  

CMA plans to share the ongoing research with its members monthly through its new consumer platform, Trendwatch, which CMA members can access email.

“The country music audience is changing and has been changing for several years in terms of becoming younger and growing as a whole,” says Karen Stump, CMA senior director, market research, tells Billboard. “So we wanted to start learning more about how those shifts are impacting their engagement in terms of a different and a growing audience.”

The tracking study has CMA in touch with country music listeners daily to glean information on the day-to-day music listening habits of country fans and how those change throughout the year.

“We looked at the market and that shifting or changing behavior, and we can overlay that with more business specific data. Together we can tell a more robust story about engagement from our audience with the genre,” Stump says. “Our focus of this study was really around engaging with the music on the key platforms if you will — radio, streaming, live music.” 

Stump says satellite radio listening saw an “emerging lift” in the study, increasing from 14% in May to 22% in December 2019, while streaming stayed steady. CMA used an outside firm to conduct the research.