How Do We Reach The Younger Generation?

[MylesBAstor]

cpp commented
01-15-2017, 10:07 AM
I've been playing guitar since my early high school days and that was 49 years ago. you're so right "you better use music your readers--especially those of the younger type like." Some of these younger types do find interest in audio reviews but they do need somewhere to get honest feedback on equipment and not just a forum for which some are overrun by conspiracy theorist and its their way or the highway ". For this hobby to move forward after us old guys are long gone, audio reviews have to reach the younger crowd, so the source has to also be directed at them as well.

Any thoughts?

[mep]

Before we worry about reaching the younger generation through reviews, we need to teach them that there is a high-end audio world that exists. If they don't know it exists, they aren't reading reviews anyway.

[cpp]

Before we worry about reaching the younger generation through reviews, we need to teach them that there is a high-end audio world that exists. If they don't know it exists, they aren't reading reviews anyway.

I think they go hand in hand, but first they the younger crowd has to be willing. So where does that start ?

Looking at my two girls and their cousins and their friends as examples, these younger folks are so concerned about portability and headphones, watching Netflix and playing games on their smartphone or a computer, to going out with friends, still some work through college and for some its jobs. At our local or regional audio meetings we try to encourage the group to invite young people so they can listen to systems that fall into 'high end audio' and we invite them to bring their own music. Its got to start somewhere so it might as well be with us old farts.

[Rob]

reaching the younger generation ultimately means selling to millennials which isn't an easy nut to crack. they aren't materialistic and by extension, don't need or want 'stuff' I would imagine portable audio (head-fi) or desk top systems are the future. it remains to be seen if the vinyl resurgence with younger music lovers has legs and translates into interest in dedicated 2 channel audio.

[MylesBAstor]

Maybe we need to show them the health benefits. And the better the system, the greater the health benefits!

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-playing-an-instrument-benefits-your-brain-anita-collins

[Rob]

they definitely are into the music and will pay top dollar for the 'experience' my nephews who are millennials cough up $500-1000 ea. for Coachella tickets but won't pay a dime for music downloads, and the gear they play it on shouldn't cost an arm and a leg, esp if you have roommates. both of them play instruments and were in bands thru HS.

[mep]

Good points too Chris. Money plays into this as well obviously. There is so much competition for young people's time (ours too I might add), people of the younger generations may not understand or be willing to sit down and do nothing but listen to music. Many of us grew up when TV had 3 channels and went off at midnight so all you had to stare at was a test pattern on the screen. There were no computers, internet, cell phones, and a bottle of water in everyone's hands. Now everyone is plugged in and on the move and they can't even drive their damn car without texting people.

[RoadDawgWest]

The connected age is a problem. I even struggle to put the mobile, and computer devices down when in the listening room. Listening to my system is to be my escape from it all. I have no idea if the younger generation even think this way. I wonder what the younger generation do to escape their devices. I suspect it never crossed their mind, but would be interested in reading the results of such a survey.

[RoadDawgWest]

My observation. The younger generation are realizing there is better sound available. They even want something better to make their portable music players sound better. Be it better headphones, a portable DAC, desktop speakers, or even their first tube integrated.

In the case where the young generation are venturing into vinyl, they are turning to the person behind the counter at the local record shop for advice on the equipment needed to playback their used, and new vinyl. Many times I over hear the conversation, and the advice is not always correct, or definitive. Getting the younger generation into a shop selling 2-channel audio might not be worth the effort. Instead go where the young customers are, and better educate the local record shops. Local audio equipment retails should even considering partnering with their local record shops.

[MylesBAstor]

Not a bad idea. Or the record stores having a listening room where customers can hear their albums on a good system. They may not buy right away, but you have put the bug in their head. Years ago when I spent a bit of time in Paris (1983), the record stores there had booths where customers could listen to the records. And if they didn't like the album, the sales person put it back on the shelves after playing and sold it as new.

[MylesBAstor]

I think headphones are huge! Just go to the audio shows and look how packed the headphone exhibit room is. Just need to show them there is something better than Beats.

[dcc]

I guess that I am fortunate having a 17 old year son who is getting hooked. I somehow replicated what my father did with his two sons. It starts with the music and not the gear.

It started when he was 10 when I offered him a tiny Ipod Nano when we were in NYC on summer holiday. Later he moved to an Ipod Classic. He then got a NAD Viso which I was able to score for a very good price. He could listen to his Ipod without earbuds. He got desperate when it got broken last year but for nominal fee and instead of getting it repaired, Apple traded it for a brand new one (they are still keeping an inventory of Ipod Classic).

Visiting brick and mortar record shops has been a father and son weekend activity for quite a while. His high school is in the heart of the city a few blocks away from the record stores where I usually go shopping. He started going on his own during the week and having a chat with the shop owners. He has been purchasing CD's that he is ripping in lossless so he can import them on his Ipod. Each time we go on holiday, he is coming with a list of record shops we have to visit.

When he got 15, I decided to get him a fairly decent system with some electronics that were sleeping in a closet among others a Wadia Transport 171i for his Ipod, a Sonos so he could stream from Qobuz and a pair of NuForce mono amps. I had to find him a pair of loudspeakers (Monitor Audio) and a small preamp with an integrated DAC (Pro-Ject).

Less than a year later, I saw him bringing home some records though he did not have a TT. Now he's got one and the way he listens has changed. He is more involved than when he is streaming. And he is benefiting of his father's KL Audio for cleaning his records...

Yesterday, he enquired about classical music and where he should start from. We spent one hour together going through my CD collection... He knows that he should not mess with my records.

My 18 year old daughter is happy with her Ipod Classic and Audio Technica earbuds. Though she is not into gear, she asked me to rip all the Satie and Debussy piano works.

[mkuller]

As I mentioned in JC's headphone thread, I was excited my 26 year old daughter asked for headphones for Christmas as a move up from her earbuds. She said she went to Fry's and listened to about a half dozen pair and thought the Sennenheiser Momentum 2s sounded the best. We got them for her so I tried them and they were surprisingly good sounding and very comfortable. Guess she learned something living with me all those years.

That's the way I see Millennials like her getting into high end audio. Headphone bars are now in just about every store that sells audio equipment.

[david k]

Not sure if we should do anything, high end is a kind of madness that takes over rational thought! You all know what I'm talking about ! Grown men, some even responsible and highly educated fawning over outlets, $10k/meter wires and gigantic theater horns that you need a barn for , stop the crazies let the next generation be !

david

[MylesBAstor]

Has audiophilia made the new DSM-5 yet?

[jonathanb]

One thing for sure is that you don't reach the younger generation with equipment that costs more than their college education. That leads to what I consider the largest failing of Hi-End audio shows: the massive proliferation of outrageously expensive gear. There is no better way than to send a prospective audiophile running for the exits and never to look back than to show than room after room after room (etc., etc. etc…) filled with $100000+ worth of gear. Those rooms should be the exception, not the rule, if one wishes to connect with younger customers

[Alrainbow]

To be honest they already have what they want
headphones go to a headphone forums they are not old like us they are young
more of them not from the USA either. They have some pretty good shows in many many countries.
Camjam google it. It's the two channel audio you people want to pass on. I got into headphones fromvety young always had both
favored headphones in many forms
IEMS
CIEMS
headphones
DAPS
just look at hiw much beats sold for lol. Only there two top models actually sound hi end and look pretty dumb Ina train too. This hi end audio is a snob filled groupy bunch. That some feel they know better it's pretty funny actually.
Some feel they know and the rest are just below them
analog or digital
rooms and so on it's complex and hiw many dumb questions get asked before it's taxing.

Now go on a headphone forums yes some are jerks but you would be amamzed at how many members there are and hiw smart they are. I short the young ones are into hesdones of alll types that can be on the move and happening. Market products that have some use I. Headphones and greatly add to your profits. There are new products added all the time.
Food for a thought a 20 K investment gets you multiple flagships devices portable and stay at home.
Even just 4 k can get you a pair of hd800 phones and there hdbd800 or many other dac combos to choose from
what do you get from a two cHannel ?????
I owna woo wes and a stax 009 even with the best of the best it's about 12k or so and play it wish a 3k top end DAP That goes woth you and a 600 set of great IEMS.

[Bill Hart]

Before we get them to gear, we have to get them to music. I'm not sure what the state of music education is in most schools these days. When I was a kid (walking uphill both ways), we had field trips to the symphony in addition to optional activities, such as "band." But, playing Sousa marches isn't terribly relevant, and listening to the symphony is something even old fogies don't do much of.
What does music say to younger people? How does it reflect their experience? Why are some artists "better" than others in the minds of the students? What makes a song compelling? Is that song really new or did it have antecedents? Play the antecedent. Why does it sound good or bad or different? What goes into that? To what extent does the gear used in playing it back make a difference? Is a local hi-fi store or nut willing to set up a system for a day of music class to demonstrate sound using music the students like?
Beyond that, I'm not sure much more can be done. Some people don't care, or have limited interest- to others, their whole life can be defined by a moment when music broke through and made a difference. It may occur at a later stage of life-- I don't know. For me, the rapture, the involvement of getting lost in the music, came early. And I started to cobble together gear to make it sound better while a young teen, even before I had my first decent rig. What drove me wasn't exposure to the gear- it was the hunger to hear the stuff I liked presented in a more powerful, involving way. That is at the root of the quest, I think.

[Garth]

Any thoughts?

First you need to learn the language start by playing only beiber till you have the language down then the food only wraps and bubble tea . Are you sure you want to talk to them

[MylesBAstor]

Before we get them to gear, we have to get them to music. I'm not sure what the state of music education is in most schools these days. When I was a kid (walking uphill both ways), we had field trips to the symphony in addition to optional activities, such as "band." But, playing Sousa marches isn't terribly relevant, and listening to the symphony is something even old fogies don't do much of.
What does music say to younger people? How does it reflect their experience? Why are some artists "better" than others in the minds of the students? What makes a song compelling? Is that song really new or did it have antecedents? Play the antecedent. Why does it sound good or bad or different? What goes into that? To what extent does the gear used in playing it back make a difference? Is a local hi-fi store or nut willing to set up a system for a day of music class to demonstrate sound using music the students like?
Beyond that, I'm not sure much more can be done. Some people don't care, or have limited interest- to others, their whole life can be defined by a moment when music broke through and made a difference. It may occur at a later stage of life-- I don't know. For me, the rapture, the involvement of getting lost in the music, came early. And I started to cobble together gear to make it sound better while a young teen, even before I had my first decent rig. What drove me wasn't exposure to the gear- it was the hunger to hear the stuff I liked presented in a more powerful, involving way. That is at the root of the quest, I think.

I think it's safe to say that arts and music education in school in particular, aren't what they used to be. As part of one my college music courses, we had to attend different period music and then write papers on the concerts. Of course, that was easy in New York.

One way of reaching young people about audio onetime suggested to me is through their music classes. How about exposing students in music classes in college to audio gear?

[mkuller]

I never had music education in high school and didn't attend a classical music concert until my senior year of college, taken there by a girlfriend, obviously with more culture than I had. By then I had attended numerous rock concerts and even a few famous jazz groups in small clubs because what I heard every day growing up was the AM radio my mother had on in the kitchen over the sink - Chuck Berry, Elvis, the Coasters and the other early rock and roll music.

Young people listen to more music today than we ever did at their ages - iPods, downloads, smart phones, streaming, CDs and LPs. They have music playing all of the time. The key is getting the ones who are passionate about music to hear it being reproduced with much more fidelity and emotional involvement. That takes time - since B & M audio stores are becoming dinosaurs, headphones are the start.