537 European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 8, © 2008 Going for a Song: A New Understanding of Adolescent Music Consumption

The UK record industry are aware of what music consumers purchase, the way in which consumers purchase (online, music stores) and artist popularity but this does not facilitate an under-standing of how or why music is consumed and what insight this might generate for future demand. As consuming is always a complex social phenomenon, especially with regard to adolescents (Benn, 2004), understanding music use and consumption and the impact this period of ‘storm and stress ’ has on the ability of organisations to target and communicate effectively with adoles-cents will be of use to the music industry. Attracting a target audience has encouraged the UK’s record companies to increase spend on advertising to £128 million in 2004, representing 10.5 per cent of the £1.2 billion industry revenue in the same year. Targeting consumers effectively becomes increasingly important as the pressure to achieve a return on investment become