Conducted in honor of National Small Business Week, Study Shows 72% of U.S. Adults Feel More Connected to a Local Small Business When They Play Music That Makes Them Nostalgic, While Nearly Two-Thirds (63%) Enjoy When Local Small Businesses Help Them Discover New Music

Spotify Advertising is unveiling the results of its new study exploring the connection between music, small businesses and their customers in celebration of National Small Business Week. Conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of Spotify, the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, the study surveyed over 2,000 U.S. adults to help small businesses understand the importance of music in the shopping experience.

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The research found that the majority of Americans (93%) shop at local small businesses, with music impacting numerous factors from how ‘cool’ a small business is perceived to motivating shoppers to spend. In fact, more than two-thirds (67%) of adults agree that local small businesses that play music incentivize them to shop. What’s more, nearly three quarters (72%) of Americans feel more connected to a local small business when they play music that makes them nostalgic for the past, and nearly two-thirds (63%) enjoy when local small businesses help them discover new music they haven’t heard before.

In today’s cluttered media environment, Spotify and digital audio provide immense opportunities for advertisers of all sizes to reach highly engaged audiences at scale. Small businesses can learn about advertising on Spotify and sign up for the platform’s self-serve ad channel, Spotify Ad Studio, at https://ads.spotify.com/en-US/.

“This research reinforces how much audio impacts people’s experiences and perceptions of the small businesses they know and love,” said Rochelle Sanchirico, Global Director of Small & Medium-Sized Business Marketing at Spotify. “We’re using these findings to inspire small businesses to leverage Spotify self-serve ad channel, Spotify Ad Studio, to connect with their customers as they stream music and other audio content.”

Commercial Use of Spotify

As laid out in our Terms and Conditions, Spotify is only for personal, non-commercial use. This means you can’t broadcast or play Spotify publicly from businesses, such as bars, restaurants, schools, stores, salons, dance studios, radio stations, etc. To play in a commercial environment, check out our friends at Soundtrack Your Brand.

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Highlights from the survey include:

• A strong majority of adults (95%) would want to hear music while shopping at a local small business.
  • Nearly half (48%) would want to hear oldies, followed by pop (44%), rock (43%), and country (43%).
  • Men are more likely than women to want to hear:
    • Rock (48% vs. 38%)
    • Blues (29% vs. 22%)
    • Bluegrass (16% vs. 12%)
    • Electronic (14% vs. 10%)
  • Women are more likely than men to want to hear:
    • Oldies (52% vs. 44%)
    • Pop (51% vs. 37%)
    • R&B (41% vs. 34%)
    • K-Pop (14% vs. 10%)

• Music can definitely be a shopping motivator for many adults.
  • More than two-thirds (67%) agree that local small businesses that play music incentivize them to shop. However, the type of music the business chooses to play is also important.
  • 70% of adults agree that they find themselves more likely to shop at local small businesses that play music they enjoy. Moreover, nearly two-thirds (63%) say they would be more likely to return to a local small business that plays music over one that doesn’t.
  • 18-54 year olds are more likely to agree that they are inclined to return to a local small business that plays music over one that doesn’t than those aged 55+ (70% vs. 51%)
  • 18-44 year olds are more likely to agree that local small businesses that play music incentivizes them to shop than those aged 55+ (78% vs. 52%)
• Music plays an important role in building a connection between small businesses and shoppers.
  • Nearly three quarters (72%) of Americans feel more connected to a local small business when they play music that makes them nostalgic for the past. 18-54 year olds are more likely to agree with this than those aged 65+ (74% vs. 63%)
  • The type of music played in local businesses has an impact, as half (50%) of adults agree that they judge how ‘cool’ a small business is based on what type of music they play.
  • When broken down by age, 18-54 year olds are more likely to judge how ‘cool’ a local small business is based on what type of music they play than those aged 55+ (59% vs. 34%)
  • Nearly two-thirds (63%) enjoy when local small businesses help them discover new music they haven’t heard before.
• U.S. adults are interested in the concept of downloading playlists from local small businesses.
  • Three in five (60%) agree they would download a playlist from a QR code provided by a local small business.
  • The same percentage (60%) wish there was a way to download a curated playlist from a local small business whose music they enjoyed.

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of Spotify between April 26 – 28, 2022 among 2,069 adults ages 18+.

Data were weighted where necessary by age, gender, race/ethnicity, region, education, marital status, household size, household income, and propensity to be online, to bring them in line with their actual proportions in the population.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in our surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within + 2.8 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to other multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including, but not limited to coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments.

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