CMA Study: Country Music Attracting Diverse, Young Listeners

Fans at 2015 CMA Music Festival in downtown Nashville. Photo: CMA

The country music audience is seeing its fastest growth in non-white, Hispanic, and Millennial listeners, according to a study released to media by the Country Music Association (CMA) on Wednesday (May 4).

The study indicated that the country music format has seen a 25 percent increase in Hispanic listeners since 2010, compared to a 7 percent growth among non-Hispanic, white listeners. Meanwhile, 71 percent of white adults and 71 percent of non-white adults listen to country music weekly or more often, according to the data.

The industry organization presented the findings following a consumer research initiative titled “Understanding Today’s Shifting Consumer Landscape and Changing Country Music Audiences, Music Choices, and Behaviors.”

The results of the initiative are being made available to CMA members during weekly one-hour webinars in May. This week’s theme was “Tomorrow’s Music Consumer and Emerging Behaviors.”

“Evolving consumer trends will undoubtedly have an impact on the genre and how future audiences for the format will engage with country music,” said Karen Stump, CMA Sr. Director of Market Research. “The series will focus on how those shifts will potentially impact music behaviors and preferences.”

The data reported in this summary is from CMA’s proprietary consumer study, which was conducted among 3,330 adult consumers across the U.S. during October 2015. The study was conducted by a third-party research partner, The Futures Company. CMA Research is conducted on behalf of and provided exclusive to CMA members.