Dan Lee wrote:
>> Gender: Continuing the trend from last year, women accounted for a higher
>> percentage of units purchased than men (51.3% vs. 48.7%).
>
> really? Does that look funny to anyone else?
Well... isn't that about the difference in actual numbers between women and
men in the U.S.?
Whenever I'm in record
>stores it seems to me as if it's overwhelmingly male, at least largely so.
>Of course, those are usually impeccable indie joints <g>, but....
I suspect that more men are obsessive collectors, who would naturally
frequent indie shops, which carry more specialized "collectors units" for
higher prices, so if Dick buys one Bear Family boxed set and Jane buys ten
separate CDs for the same price, then Jane's buying more units, even if
they're spending the same amount of money.
>Come to think of it, I guess whenever I do wander through a Wal-Mart or
>Target or similar place it does seem to be largely women. Still I wonder
>about that stat....
Men and women meet in the middle at places like Tower, I think. Or so it
always seems to me.
>>Women over 30
>> accounted for the largest share of purchases,
>
> Women over 30??? Here again I thought it was always the 12-25 or so
male
>market that bought the most records. You retail guys and gals will have to
>edify.
I've always heard that it was teenage girls who bought the most records.
This may have changed. In the olden days, it was girls who bought the most
singles.
Now, while I'm thinking about it... Every once in a while the fact is
bandied about that country music, especially country radio, targets
suburban women. But if this is so, then I must confess that I am cornfused.
Because, I did a little bit of websurfing and noticed two things:
1: Two industry sites, The CMA and Gavin, said that gender-wise, the
audience for country music was split about 50-50.
2: Looking at the websites for country stations -- including TNN -- I have
to conclude that if country radio is really targeting women, then more
women than I realized are very interested in hunting, bass fishing, NASCAR,
and RollerJam.
Maybe this is why Dan sees more women in Walmart than in the impeccably
indie stores. I mean, it's *so* much more convenient to pick up some
country CDs while shopping for fishing gear.
--Cheryl Cline
