According to an estimate from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, an organisation that represents the international music industry, people around the world spend on average 20.1 hours per week listening to music, up from 18.4 hours in 2021.
We have more ways to access music than at any time in history and a whole world of unfamiliar styles to explore.
The thrill of discovering new songs and new sounds can enrich people of all ages.
Except, most of the time, it doesn’t.
Our willingness to explore new or unfamiliar music declines with age. Multiple studies confirm the sentiments of US songwriter and musician Bob Seger:
Today’s music ain’t got the same soul
I like that old time rock ‘n’ roll
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Music is the soundtrack to your life – what’s on your playlist?
Exploring new music
Academics use the term “open-earedness” to describe our willingness to explore new music. Across our lives this willingness waxes and wanes.
Until around the age of 11, children are generally happy to engage with unfamiliar music. Early adolescence sees a reduction in open-earedness, but is accompanied by an intense increase in interest in music more generally. Open-earedness increases slightly during young adulthood, then declines as we age.
A major 2013 study involving more than 250,000 participants confirmed these changing behaviours. It also showed that the significance we ascribe to music after adolescence declines, and the amount of music we listen to reduces from a high point of 20% of our waking time during adolescence, to 13% in adulthood.
Shifting priorities
Researchers have different, but generally complementary, theories to account for these population-level trends. Some interpret the observed decline in music engagement in terms of psychosocial maturation.
Adolescents use music as an identity marker…