Sell More Digital Music Downloads By Targeting Twitter Users

A recent NPD Group study suggests Twitter users purchase 77 percent more digital music downloads than non-tweeting Web users.

“NPD’s latest music-acquisition study shows that there are segments of consumers who are more actively integrating Twitter as a key tool for communicating and networking,” said Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD. “Based on their music-purchasing history, active Twitter users are simply worth more to record labels and music retailers than those who are not using Twitter.”

Awareness increased during the first quarter 2009 to 52 percent among U.S. Internet-users from 22 percent in fourth quarter 2008. NPD’s consumer tracking shows that a third of Twitter users reported purchasing a CD in the prior three months. A similar number bought a digital download.

Twitter users actually purchased 77 percent more digital downloads than those not using the 140-character-per-message social network. Twitter users also were twice as likely than average Web users to visit MySpace Music and Pandora.

“Twitter has the potential to help foster the discovery of new music, and improve targeted marketing of music to groups of highly-involved and technologically savvy consumers, but it has to be done right,” Crupnick said. “There must be a careful balance struck between entertainment and direct conversation on one hand, and marketing on the other.”

Thanks to Music Row