This is a fascinating article on WSJ. It profiles a new service called Music Aficionado that caters to getting the older crowd to pay for music.

Although older, wealthier fans raised in the age of record stores make up the demographic that is most comfortable with the idea of paying for music, they’ve been among the most reluctant groups to pay for monthly streaming subscriptions, which offer ad-free access to up to tens of millions of songs.

I’ve seen this myself. People with millions of dollars that are using free services or just using their own music, instead of paying for a service. I pay for Pandora, Apple Music, and Spotify, but I’m not sure any of them really talk to me as a long-time music buyer and listener. Pandora is probably the best, followed by Spotify, but it feels like Pandora’s new service may have an edge in this next year because their new service will be tailored around what you listen to and like instead of pushing the music the service wants you to listen to.

While older consumers can generally be slower to adopt new technology, there are other factors at play. Streaming companies have been primarily built by young techies and generally use what Mr. Penn calls a “DJ model” to cater to a younger audience, promoting pop-heavy playlists that serve primarily as soundtracks for activities such as partying, exercising and “chilling.” Record companies, meantime, haven’t rushed to convert their album buyers to subscribers, since physical music sales are still highly profitable and accounted for nearly 40% of the recorded music industry’s global revenue last year.

The over-50 “demo is largely being ignored in the digital world even though these folks are the most passionate about music because they lived all of it the first time around,” said Fred Goldring, a 58-year-old veteran music lawyer.

Agreed. This is why I think Pandora has a chance—they’ll show me what I want to see as a music listener.

When I open up Apple Music and see the newest Pop/Hip Hop in my “For You” section, one of two things is happening: Either Apple’s “Love” feature doesn’t actually work, or they are pushing these albums to all users regardless of their choices. Either way, it’s not good for the user.