Fear of Missing Out 2. Ownership 3. Support
When a famous artist dies have you noticed that their music jumps to the top of the purchased music charts on iTunes? It happened with Michael Jackson, it happened with Prince and it happened with DMX. No doubt this phenomenon will happen again.
When it comes to reasons buy music culture plays a big influence in the first reason. The first reason people buy music is because they feel like they are missing out. If everyone is listening to a certain artist or song, they go and grab it. The fear of missing out is also the reason that people go back and buy bonus songs on albums. Maybe its a few songs from an artist’s catelogue didn’t make their way onto Spotify, and so grabbing it they can be part of the in-crowd, “Oh you don’t have ‘that song,’ I’ve had it for months.” Did I mention I found an original Michael Jackson Thriller Vinyl at an estate sale for a $1? Do I collect Vinyl? No. Did I buy it? Yes!
The second reason that people buy music (and all these categories bleed a little bit) is because they love the music. Somehow the music has impacted their life. Most of the time, it is this category that spurs on the purchase of physical media like vinyl and cds or cassettes. This is the category of the enthusiast or the collector. People love to collect and they collect things that matter to them. For many it is going back and collecting the music from your childhood that formed your earliest experiences. Maybe its the soundtrack of your life that you are trying to hold onto quite literally.
The third reason and probably the most nobel is wanting to support the artist. Many people know that streaming music on a platform does not financially support an artist. Some have resorted to purchasing on bandcamp or directly through the band’s website in order to maximize what they can give to the artist. These pay the artist at a better rate than iTunes or Amazon. People buy all kinds of products through kickstarter just as a way to give the artist more money and help them out. Not until FEEDtheMUSIC, there was not any way to give a tax-deductible donation to an artist. Now, with FEEDtheMUSIC you can give an artist a financial donation. This allows you to collaborate with them as a supporter without taking something from them. After all, you can only buy an album so many times to support your favorite artist.
Can you think of another reason to buy music? Let us know!