Preferred music genres among U.S. teenage internet users as of August 2012
Preferred music genres of U.S. teens - additional information
While popular music ultimately prevails among the 13- to 19-year old age group, their allegiance to country music aligns with the preferences of rest of the population, among which country music ousted classic rock as the most popular genre in the United States.
Teenagers tend to rely on their friends to discover new music, but the majority of them never actually purchase music, or they purchase very little. This does not mean that teens do not discover new music often; besides traditional radio, the advent of online music streaming through platforms such as YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify has made it easier than ever for consumers to listen to music for minimal or no cost. In fact, listening to music online is one of the most common activities for teens and young adults in the U.S. to do when using the internet .
Music piracy is also of growing concern in the United States, especially among the younger, tech-savvy generations. Despite the availability of free music sources, almost a third of teens have pirated music or movies, and more than half of the music collections of Americans under 30 years of age has been copied, ripped, or downloaded for free. The United States leads the world in the volume of music pirated via BitTorrent.