Studies Show Mid-aged People Are More in Favor of Record Music Than Teenagers Do.

• The decline of Physical format sales in music industry and the increase of streaming format indicated the teenagers tend to download or stream music.
• Statistics displayed teenager's dominance in streaming music industry, therefore, mid-aged people are getting recorded music
• The various reasons why mid-aged people would choose recorded music over digital streaming music. 

   As the technology advances, the music industry has also experienced an enormous change since the 1870s. People's ways of enjoying music have developed from phonograph to tapes, CDs, and up to now, the digital forms. Nowadays, less and less people are going into the CD and Record stores to pick up their favorite singers' new albums. Instead, more and more often, people just simply use their computers or phones to download and stream music they like. Although the digital music downloading and streaming is becoming a common thing in everyday life, music streaming remains a teenagers' game.  Which is being said, mid- aged people are more in favor of recorded music and teenagers tend to enjoy digital music.

The changes of musical industry indicate that teenagers are in favor of digital streaming music.

Downloading and streaming music is becoming a more and more popular way of listening to music among teenagers. Unlike most mid-age people, this generation is born with the advantages of downloading and streaming technology. Such popularity of streaming music has caused a vast decrease of the physical format sales. According to the 2014 International  Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) annual music report, the 2014's global revenues of recorded music fall from $15.6 billion in 2013 to $15 billion,which is a 3.9 per cent of decrease. Moreover, while the physical format sales had a 11.7 per cent of decrease from $8.75 billion to $7.73 billion, streaming and subscription (aka digital industry) revenue had a 4.9 per cent of increase in 2013 to $5.9 billion. The market share also showed the pattern of the rising of streaming  music, from 2012 to 2013 the physical format sales declined from 60 per cent to 51.4 per sentof the overall revenue.

Teenagers dominate streaming music industry while mid-aged people are still getting CDs

Moreover, according to the Statista's data plot listed on the right, "most predominant age group of Spotify users lies in the range of 18-24", most of whom are teenagers. Since the teenagers are more comfortable with streaming music and the physical format sales are still the dominant portion of the music market, then who are buying these recorded music? The answer is: the mid age elders.

There are several reasons why mid-age people are still buying CDs instead of downloading or streaming music online.

Mid-aged people are in favor of recorded music because of their musical habit, hobbies, present day technology gaps and changes of their social roles. 

1. They are used to listening to recorded music. Teenagers have grown up with MP3 and Streaming music services, therefore they are more comfortable with using Streaming services. As a contrast, mid-aged people are more comfortable with using CDs, since it has been the way for them to enjoy music for decades. It is really hard for them to get out of their comfort zones. 
2. Many mid-aged people consider buying and collecting CDs as one of their most important hobbies. It is often true for them that they can get a sense of achievement through a long time of pursuit and even through exchanges with other people to get the CDs they desire. Simply sitting and button clicking would not get them the sense of achievement. It is almost effortless to get music through downloading and streaming, therefore the sense of achievement is lost. Moreover, it is extremely rare to find the limited edition of the digital music. The albums people can download or stream are always the same. However, it is almost always  possible for fans to collect certain limited editions of CDs, like signed by the singers 
3. The present day technology gaps are another reason why mid-aged people prefer recorded music. One most important reason why people get CDs is that CDs have better music quality than downloaded versions. People who grew up with CDs would have a hard time bearing the poor quality of the downloaded music. That is why recored music is their favorite. More importantly, mid-aged people usually find that it is complicated for them to use online streaming/downloading services. And most of them try to play their favorite music while driving. What is easier than putting the CD in the player and enjoy the music right away?  
4. The changes of people's social role also affect their choice of music. For instance, as people age, their roles change from students, teenagers to father/mother, employee/employer and etc. The more developed people's age , the less free time they would get for themselves. It is hard for mid-age people to find the time and passion to explore new musical technology and to keep up with the current trends of music. A lot people would even lose interest in music as they age. A study  has pointed out that "More than twice as many 65-year-olds as 13-year-olds said that music did not feature heavily in their lives."  

Taking everything into consideration, it is possible to come to this general conclusion:mid-aged people are more in favor of recorded music, while teenagers tend to like downloading and streaming music.