F. Reasons for Taping

All album and/or selection tapers were given a list of 14 reasons "for taping music and other professional entertainment that they could have bought as records or prerecorded tapes." They were asked to identify all the reasons why they had taped during the past 12 months and then to choose the one reason for which they taped most often. Table 9 gives the percent of current album and/or selection tapers mentioning each as a reason they taped at least once, as well as the percent who mentioned each as the reason they taped most often.

Perhaps not surprising, the primary reason for home taping is to avoid buying prerecorded product. More specifically, 45% of the album and/or selection tapers said they had made at least one recording so that they "didn't have to buy it," and 25% gave this as the reason they taped most often. The other major reasons for taping most often were: to make a copy for car or office (17%); because I enjoy creating my own programs (11%); because taping is fun (9%) and because tapes are easier and more convenient to use than records (9%). Taken together, these 5 reasons explain why 71% of album and/or selection tapers tape most often. Considering reasons for taping at least once during the survey year, it can be seen that, although in a slightly different order, these same five reasons are mentioned most frequently.

Three other points can be made about Table 9. First, although it has often been argued that a great deal of home taping occurs because of the poor quality of prerecorded tapes, note that only 10% of tapers made a recording for this reason and only 3% said they taped most often in order to "get a better quality recording than is available on prerecorded tapes." A different type of quality does arise as the sixth most important reason for taping. That is, 18% of the album and/or selection tapers have made at least one recording to preserve the quality of their records, while 8% said this was the reason they taped most often.

Second, it can be seen that more than twice as many people taped because of the lack of availability of prerecorded tapes than because of the poor quality of those tapes. For example, in contrast to the 3% who said they record most often because of the poor quality of prerecorded tapes, 7% said they record most often because a prerecorded tape is not available.

Finally, it must be realized that the findings in Table 9 are based on all current album and/or selection tapers and therefore do not show important differences among those who only tape albums, those who only tape selections and those who tape both. For example, while 27% of album only tapers said they taped most often to make a copy for their car or office, only 10% of selection only tapers gave this as their reason for taping most often. Similarly, while 20% of album only tapers said they have made at least one recording to preserve the quality of their records, this is true for only 11% of those people who tape only selections. A complete discussion of the differences among these three types of tapers is beyond the scope of the present report.

G. Type of Music Taped

All current album and/or selection tapers were handed a card describing 25 different Types of Music (see Sample 1). They were then asked to identify all the types they had recorded during the past 12 months and the one type they had recorded most often. Table 10 shows the percent of the album and/or selection tapers who taped different types of music at least once during the survey year, as well as the percent taping each type most often.

Not surprisingly, taping behavior is heavily concentrated upon those types of music that are purchased most often as records or prerecorded tapes. It can be seen that more people make home recordings of Rock music than of any other type. Fully 58% of all album and/or selection tapers have made at least one home recording of a Rock recording and 38% said that this is the Type of Music they record most often. In fact, with respect to music taped most often, Rock ranks first, Soul, R&B and Disco second. Other types of music taped most often are Country (12%), Classical (9%) and Contemporary Pop Vocal (7%).*

It should again be noted that Table 10 is based on all current album and/or selection tapers, and thus important differences among those taping selections only, albums only, and those who tape both selections and albums cannot be shown. For example, although all three groups tape Rock most often, this is true of 54% of those who only tape albums. In contrast, only 31% of those who only tape selections report Rock as the Type of Music they tape most often. One of the biggest differences between album only and selection only tapers concerns the taping of Soul, R & B, and Disco. While 43% of selection only tapers have taped this type of music at least once (with 20% saying they tape it most often), this is true of only 19% of the album only tapers (with 8% reporting this as the Type of Music they tape most often).

"It is interesting to contrast these figures with the percent of current buyers who purchased each type most often. For example, Rock is bought most often by 35% of current buyers. Soul, R&B, Disco by 14% and Classical by 4% of current buyers In each of these 3 cases the percent of tapers is greater than the percent of buyers For a complete description of buying behavior see Kapp, Middiestadt. Fishbein, "The Prerecorded Music Market A Consumer Survey-1980." WCI, 1981

SAMPLE 1 Types of Music

1. CONTEMPORARY POP-VOCAL (like Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand, ABBA, Bee Gees)

2, BEAUTIFUL MUSIC (ške Henry Mancini, Boston Pops, Marvin Hamlisch, Burt Bacharach)

3. CONTEMPORARY ROCK-VOCAL (like Billy Joel, James Taylor, Rickie Lee Jones, Linda Ronstadt)

4. CONTEMPORARY ROCK-BANDS (like Fleetwood Mac. The Eagles, Firefall, Wings)

5. HEAVY ROCK (like Led Zeppelin, Bob Seger, Pink Floyd, Van Halen. The Rolling Stones)

6. NEW WAVE ROCK (like The Knack, The Cars, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe)

7. TRADITIONAL COUNTRY (like Tammy Wynette, Mel Tillis, John Conlee. Loretta Lynn, Moe Bandy)

CONTEMPORARY COUNTRY (like Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Paycheck)

9. SACRED (like Oak Ridge Boys, Stammps Quartet, Reba Rambo, The Bill Gaither Trio)

10. GOSPEL (like Mighty Clouds of Joy, Five Blind Boys, Inez Andrews, Andrae Crouch}

11 TRADITIONAL SOUL, RHYTHM & BLUES (like Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, The Temptations, James Brown)

12 CONTEMPORARY BLACK (like Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind and Fire, Parliament, Funkadelic, The Commodores)

13. DISCO/DANCE (like Chic, Village People, Donna Summer, Sister Sledge)

14. LATIN-SALSA (like Willie Colon, Pacheco, Celia Cruz)

15 LATIN-BALLADAS (like Julio Iglesias, Camilo Sesto, Roberto Carlos)

16. LATIN-RANCHERO (ke Napoleon, Vincente Fernandez, Los Tigres Del Norte)

17. TRADITIONAL JAZZ (like Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane. Charlie Mingus)

18. CONTEMPORARY JAZZ (like Jean-Luc Ponty, Pat Metheny Weather Report, Chuck Mangione)

19. CLASSICAL-VOCAL (like Lieder, Opera, Art Songs)

20. CLASSICAL-INSTRUMENTAL (like Symphonies, Concertos, Sonatas)

21. 1940's, 1950's, 1960's POP (like Glenn Miller, Ames Brother. Chubby Checker, Peter, Paul and Mary. Tijuana Brass, Andy Williams)

22 1960's ROCK (like Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Beatles)

23. COMEDY (like Richard Pryor, Steve Martin, Robin Williams. Gilda Radner)

24. BROADWAY CAST, MOVIE OR TV SOUND TRACKS (like Annie. Chorus Line, Rocky, Star Wars, Saturday Night Live)

25 ALL OTHERS (like Children, Ethnic, Spoken Word, Folk, Organ, Etc.)