Fans over age 30 download and buy

Usually, the music media gears it presentation for the under-25 crowd.
By CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL STAR TRIBUNE
When Tracks magazine editor Alan Light pitched his new "adult" music publication last year, he had to convince prospective advertisers that there are cool rock 'n' roll fans over age 30 -- and even over 50.
Tracks is skewed toward fans who fall somewhere between MTV's teenyboppers and classic rock's crusty legion.
It wasn't an easy sell.
"We're dealing with a hugely under-served audience," Light told a music-industry audience at the South by Southwest Music Conference in Austin, Texas, earlier this year.
Even though 60 percent of all CDs are bought by music fans over 30, most of the acts touted on music TV channels, magazines and FM radio are geared to the under-25 crowd. Speaking on a panel titled "Finding the Grown-Up Audience," Light and other experts sounded off about the difficulties of marketing to so-called adult-rock fans.
Norah Jones was the most-discussed artist on the panel. The singer-pianist proves that hope does exist for others with similar appeal, including Los Lobos, Lucinda Williams, Wilco, John Hiatt, Steve Earle and David Byrne.
What helped
Norah Jones' publicist, Matt Hanks of Shore Fire Media, said that grass-roots tactics helped make Jones a household name. Her big break, Hanks said, was getting widespread support from daily newspapers and nonprofit radio outlets such as National Public Radio -- media not as hung up on youth trends or tied to music conglomerates.
"When the [New York] Times or NPR do a feature on an artist, you can immediately watch their sales rise on Amazon.com," Hanks said.
And yes, he said, music fans over 30 do often use the Internet to get their music. The popular notion in the music industry is that only teens and twentysomethings tune in via the Web. Jones helped disprove that when her latest single beat out OutKast's long-ruling "Hey Ya!" as the No.1 download on Apple's iTunes site this spring.
"Either the older demographics are downloading music or Norah's audience is a lot younger than people think," Hanks said. "It's probably both."
The South by Southwest panelists agreed there is one essential difference between old and young Web users, one that is apparently lost on the record companies crying foul over Internet music pirating: The geezers might download, but they still buy a lot of CDs.
Here's the irony
How ironic that the young fans so desperately courted by giant music corporations are the ones more likely to not pay for their music. Jones again helps prove this point. Even with heavy downloading of her single, her latest album sold more than 1 million copies in its first week; it's likely to be the best-selling CD of 2004.
"[The older fans] are people who still buy CDs, and who are likely to go buy concert tickets, too," said Nic Harcourt, a radio programmer with KCRW-FM in Santa Monica, Calif.
Harcourt's syndicated show, "Morning Becomes Eclectic," has helped break many adult-rock acts, as have NPR programs such as "All Things Considered" and "Fresh Air." However, programs such as these are rare in radio nowadays, when most major FM stations are owned by media conglomerates that plainly push for less variety.
This has led to the rise of satellite radio. Companies such as XM Radio and Sirius offer a wide variety of music formats via satellite or the Internet. Their subscription services have proved especially popular with the over-30 demographic, said XM programmer Jessie Scott.
"These are the people whose tastes tend to be more eclectic," Scott said.