Do people stop listening to new music at 33?

Do music consumers stop listening to new music when they hit the age of 33?

That’s a claim by a new study by the website Skynet & Ebert, using US data from Spotify and of research company The Echo Nest.

According to Skynet & Ebert’s Ajay Kalia, "While teens' music taste is dominated by incredibly popular music, this proportion drops steadily through peoples' 20s, before their tastes 'mature' in their early 30s."

He continues, "Until their early 30s, mainstream music represents a smaller and smaller proportion of their streaming. And for the average listener, by their mid-30s, their tastes have matured, and they are who they’re going to be."

Women tend to show “a slow and steady decline in pop music listening from 13-49.” But men drop pop from their teens until their early 30s at which point they hit the “lock in effect”.

Becoming a parent is another factor in moving away from mainstream music to cabaret, movie soundtracks, show tunes, Christmas, environmental and meditation music.

Parenting "has an equivalent impact on your 'music relevancy' as aging about 4 years". It is not known to what extent having teen children playing their music in the same household could affect the musical tastes of their mothers and fathers.

Kalia’s explanation for why fans drift to music that is less Top 40 and non-current is this: "Two factors drive this transition away from popular music. First, listeners discover less-familiar music genres that they didn’t hear on FM radio as early teens, from artists with a lower popularity rank. Second, listeners are returning to the music that was popular when they were coming of age - but which has since phased out of popularity."

Anecdotal evidence from “older” music fans at festivals and those who tune into community radio, for instance, might show those in the middle age are still actively searching for new music or new artists. But the Skynet & Ebert study certainly makes an interesting claim.