Totally wrong! I think this statement is not correct and I think the Pew research study that came up with this statement is skewed. According to my favorite daily reader, Digital Music News, the Pew Internet and American Life Project just released this study. The official statement from Pew is "The internet helps music buyers connect with artists and learn more about music, but it doesn’t strongly influence what or how they buy." I don't possibly see how this can be correct. I, for one am extremely influenced by my interactions on the internet and hearing, or learning of a band in a blog, or in the social networking sphere has led to numerous purchases.
According to this survey of 2400 adults, 56% of those polled use the internet for music research. Much more than the number using it for Cell Phone research and even higher then Real Estate. This to me does not represent a lack of influence in the final purchase. Even if those polled said it didnt make a major difference in their purchase, 22% still made their purchase online. That is not too shabby in the world of eCommerce. If all marketing could bring about purchases from 22% of those who viewed it, the business world would be vastly different than it is today.
This topic coincides with an article I recently read in Billboard touting the fact that MP3 downloads were yet to make a major impact within the industry... Billboard's answer (and I totally agree) is... wait. Give it time... Just like the influence of social networking and internet advertising on purchasing patterns, and the market impact of MP3's, all of these efforts to foree into the realm of digital music are eventually going to produce more results. Rome was not built in a day and neither was digital music! For goodness sake, iTunes is less than 10 years old. Like all new formats, and marketing objectives these things take time and I think we will start to see our internet advertising and promotions pay off in dividends down the road. This study is nothing more than Pew "stirring up the pot."