The Effects of Gender, Age, and Income on the Willingness to Pay for Music Downloads

This paper examines the effects of gender, age, and income on the willingness to pay (WTP) for music downloads. The examination is based on an online survey of 1 330 Finnish consumers conducted in June 2010. The analysis of the survey data follows a two-phase strategy. In the first phase, the effects of the explanatory variables on the consumers’ unwillingness to pay (UWTP) for album and track downloads are examined by using contingency tables and the Pearson’s χ 2 tests of independence. In the second phase, the effects of the explanatory variables on the consumers’ actual WTP for album and track downloads are examined by using one-way analysis of variance (1-ANOVA) and post-hoc multiple comparisons. The results of the analysis suggest that there are several statistically significant differences in the WTP for albums and tracks between the examined consumer segments. These findings and their implications should be taken into consideration in the future business models of music download stores.