•             BPI survey shows that 62% of people want to receive music as a gift
•             nearly half of all music-related gifts are given at Christmas
•             up to a quarter of people now want their music gift to be in digital form
  
A survey of over 2,000 consumers by the BPI, the trade body which represents the recorded music industry, underlines the enduring appeal of music as one of the gifts that we most like to give or to receive, whether at Christmas, on birthdays or on other special occasions.
 
More people want their gifts in digital formats, while vinyl is making a comeback…
 
However, the survey also shows that more of us now want our music-related gifts to come in digital form.  When asked which formats they would like their music-related gifts to be on, up to 25 per cent * selected digital among their choices - either as download credits (19 per cent), such as through an iTunes voucher, or as a subscription to a streaming service (6 per cent) such as Spotify and Deezer. 
 
In fact the figures vary massively according to age group: among those aged between 15-19 years, up to 55 per cent want their music gifts in digital form, while up to 58 per cent of those in the 20-24 year bracket want to be able to either download or to stream their music gifts. 
 
That still leaves a majority of those surveyed also wanting a CD album (57 per cent), vinyl LP (7 per cent) or a record token (59 per cent - for online and high street stores combined) among their choices *.  However, these findings arguably represent a significant shift compared to just two years ago, when the proportion of people wanting digital-based music gifts was under ten per cent.  It's often been suggested that one of the constraints in the growth of the digital market is that physically-packaged products make for better gifts, but these latest findings suggest that attitudes are changing, and that the barriers to digital gifting are now coming down quite quickly.
 
The part of the country where people most want their music gifts in digital form is London (up to 41 per cent), followed jointly by Scotland and the East Midlands - both up to 22 per cent.
 
It's also interesting to note that vinyl is becoming popular again - 7 per cent of respondents said they would like to receive it as a gift - a figure that rises to 14 per cent among the 20-24 year-olds asked.
 
Christmas is the time of year most of us gift music to someone
Christmas remains the time most of us (48 per cent) give music according to the survey, compared with other calendar events including birthdays (37 per cent), Mother's Day (10 per cent), Father's Day (8 per cent), Valentine's (8  per cent), anniversaries (6 per cent) and other religious festivals (3 per cent).
 
Receiving music as a gift
When asked if they would like to receive music as a gift, a massive 62 per cent of the people surveyed said that they would. The figure is higher among female respondents (65 per cent), while the 35-44 year group most valued it as a gift - 66 per cent.  The UK region where people most want music as a gift is the North East (67 per cent).
 
Type of album people most want to receive as a gift
It comes as no surprise that the preferred choice among those on offer was an album by 'my favourite artist' (82 per cent), followed by compilations (36 per cent) and a release by a new artist 'I haven't heard of before' (18 per cent).
BPI's Gennaro Castaldo comments: "Music clearly remains one the gift that’s we most value receiving, especially at Christmas. However, while CDs still remain popular gift items, it's interesting that more of us are now happy to receive our gifts in digital form either as download vouchers or as subscriptions to streaming services.  There was a time not so long ago when we wanted our music gifts in physical form that we could unwrap, but that seems to be gradually changing, especially among teenagers and people in their early twenties." 
 
BPI's suggested list of 10 of the most popular music gifts for Christmas 2013 (alphabetic order)
 
•             Beyoncé / BEYONCE
•             Celine Dion / Loved Me Back to Life
•             Eminem / The Marshall Mathers LP2
•             Gary Barlow / Since I Saw You Last
•             Michael Bublé / Christmas - Special Edition
•             Michael Bublé / To Be Loved
•             Olly Murs / Right Place, Right Time - Special Edition
•             One Direction / Midnight Memories
•             Robbie Williams / Swings Both Ways
•             Various Artists / Now That's What I Call Music!… 86