• by September 26, 2000

Media Metrix today announced Web audience measurement results revealing that music on the Web is no longer just for kids and young adults. In June 2000, 6,811,000 Americans age 50 and over visited music-related sites, including genres such as music-entertainment, online retailers and multimedia software-download sites.

Unique visitors 50 and older to these sites are up 92% from 3,555,000 in June 1999, outpacing the overall U.S. population's growth of 45% to these music-related sites during the same period.

"Despite stereotypes about online music being limited to younger audiences, music sites are becoming increasingly popular among older Americans," said Doug McFarland, president, Media Metrix. "In fact, this audience's use of music-related sites has grown at an even faster rate than their usage of the Web overall. Keeping an eye on this burgeoning demographic will be key for Internet marketers."

Unique visitors 50 and older to music-entertainment destinations jumped from 2,033,000 in June 1999 to 4,703,000 in June 2000, a 131 percent increase. Top sites in June 2000 include Real.com with 2,736,000 visitors 50 and over, Windowsmedia.com with 966,000, as well as other more narrowly focused music-entertainment sites like Planetofmusic.com with 733,000 and Mp3.com with 448,000.

In addition to discovering music-entertainment sites, older Americans also are flocking to online retailers where music can be purchased. In June 2000, 4,355,000 persons 50 and over visited sites such as Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Buy.com and Bmgmusicservice.com.

With older Americans proving they are an important audience for music sites in general, it is not surprising they also are using multimedia players that let them take advantage of the digital content these sites provide. According to the June 2000 Media Metrix SoftUsage Report, 15,104,000 persons age 35 to 54 and 4,454,000 persons age 55 and over used a multimedia player - such as RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, QuickTime, RealJukebox and MusicMatch JukeBox - during that month.

But their usage of music-related applications doesn't stop there. In the same month 1,636,000 persons age 35 to 54 and 144,000 persons age 55 and over used Napster, the software application that allows participation in the controversial music file-sharing service.