Earlier this school year, I sat in a class listening to the professor talk about how she no longer emails students because "young adults don't read emails anymore." Uh, we don't? As obnoxious as it is to be told what "we" collectively do and do not do by a 60-something professor, it was also a completely false statement. I live and breath email, and without it, I would be at a loss for communicating with my far-away family members, distant friends, classmates, and even roommates (so, so convenient for rent reminders) — not to mention the endless amount of email newsletters and business updates that keep me in the loop.

Text messaging still reigns supreme when it comes to convenient communication, but when so many teens have email-synced cell phones, it only makes sense to choose the email avenue because, unlike texting, there are no added costs, no tricky plans, no limits. I subscribe to email lists of all my favorite stores (catalog shopping 2.0) and genuinely enjoy receiving messages about new designers, products and sales. I don't think of them as "junk mail," just friendly encouragements to spend a little bit of time shopping.

Media Post, reg. required, collaborated with Ball State to research different niche groups of young adults to see the differences between their media consumption and marketing preferences. Teens are still in high school, college students are between 18 and 24, wired are young professionals, and young homemakers are those between 18 and 34 who consider "homemaking" as their primary profession (Whoa. I wonder how many girls they found that fit this criteria?). Here's what they found:

Teens are 25% less likely than other groups we identified to have made a purchase online. It makes sense since they are less likely to have disposable income available. They are, as we hear often, less likely (than average) to be influenced by email and more likely (than average) to be influenced by text messaging to make a purchase. In terms of driving conversions, email outperforms the influence of text messaging, social networks, and IM combined.

College students are buying online, but they don’t credit direct marketing with having any influence on that activity. In fact, 27% claim direct marketing has never influenced a purchase decision. As such, no channel looks great for marketing to college students when compared to the average. In contrast with teens, however, they have very low opinions of any marketing via text messaging or through social networks.

Wired consumers have good-paying jobs and no kids, which means they have disposable income. They are the largest media consumers identified in our study, spending an average of more than eight hours a day on their computers accessing the Internet, email, and using computer software — including games. They use every channel available to communicate with friends and family — they call, they text, they Twitter, they IM, they use Facebook (Sound familiar yet? Most of us fall in this group).

Young homemakers are also well-versed in new communication channels. They text, they use social networks, and they IM. But more than any other group, they don’t want marketers bugging them through these channels. They have two channels open for marketers: direct mail and email.

Next week's Democratic National Convention has had no trouble staying in the headlines, but it seems the Dems are going to great lengths to ensure that they're also staying on the minds of American youth. The convention is shaping up to be the musical festival and celebrity-studded event of the summer. Hip bands including - but not limited to - Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Cold War Kids, Nada Surf, Death Cab for Cutie, Fall Out Boy, Black Eyed Peas, and Kanye West will all be on hand to perform in Denver; superstars like Scarlett Johansson, Zooey Deschanel, Ben Affleck, Anne Hathaway, Spike Lee, Quentin Tarantino, and other bold-faced names are all expected to make appearances.

With such an impressive guest list, this convention is bound to draw fans from both sides of the political spectrum. Young voters are also the most impressionable voters, so it will be interesting to see if they sway when they see their favorite bands and celebrities supporting Obama. If I wasn't already a lefty, I probably would second-guess my stance after seeing Death Cab for Cutie - my favorite band since junior high - rock out for liberal causes.

From the Los Angeles Times Campaign '08 coverage:

For every Democratic delegate who is bound for the convention in Denver, desperate to influence the platform committee, there are plenty more looking for the best entertainment acts and the hottest parties — and they'll have plenty of choices. As the politics have drained from our national conventions, high-level socializing, entertainment (with a purpose) and a chance to brush elbows with celebrities have become the real action at the quadrennial get-togethers. From studio heads to character actors, Hollywood's most devoted politicos have revised their vacation plans to make a place for the convention, with its myriad sideshows and soirées. There may be more SAG cards in Denver next week than in Hollywood.

There's something — actually two or three somethings — for everybody. For the industry elite, the toughest challenge will be to maintain an orderly social calendar at the convention, which begins Monday and ends Thursday with the acceptance speech by nominee Barack Obama at Denver's football stadium.

A little more glitz than conventions from elections past, but let's be honest - isn't Obama a glitzier candidate?

Today's Ypulse Guest Post is from Larry Weintraub, the CEO of Fanscape. Larry's 20 years of experience in the entertainment industry encompasses nearly every area, including marketing, sales, advertising, merchandising and event management. Fanscape is a leading emerging media marketing agency focused on reaching and activating the newest generation of web and mobile savvy consumers through online and wireless media.

Larry's recap of a panel he moderated on young people's music consumption is interesting given the survey summary we linked to on this topic in yesterday's Essentials. Perhaps this generation doesn't love music more than we did, they just have more ways to consume and interact with it. If you work in youth media and marketing, and would like to write a Ypulse Guest post, just email me!

How Youth Are Consuming Music

Last Thursday I flew to San Francisco to speak at the Bandwidth Conference. I was asked to moderate a panel titled, "Bellwethers." The sub-title of the panel stated "Fanscape's Larry Weintraub sits down with representatives of the leaders of the industry - music loving youth. A look at the way they discover, purchase (?), interact with, and are exposed to music."

Each semester we host a fantastic group of interns at Fanscape and I always seize the opportunity to ask them about their various consumption habits. With the Bandwidth panel, I tried something a little different. Rather than just relying on my own arsenal of questions, I tried a little social-networking and I sent a note to 500 of my LinkedIn contacts asking them if they could pose a question to a young person about how they consume music and entertainment, what would it be?

The response was overwhelming. Within a week almost 100 people had sent nearly 200 questions, affirming that old "careful what you wish for" adage. Just sorting through them all took several hours, but yielded some consistent thematic musings such as how did they discover music, was sound quality an issue, and was there any price that might inspire them to buy music instead of steal it. There were also requests to find out if radio mattered and whether subscription was even a consideration. All in all I had a plethora of great queries. On the morning of the conference, I grouped and sorted my notes and when I entered the green room, I was prepared and excited to meet my panelists.

There were four wonderful young adults each with very different backgrounds. These were not students from Stanford University or a Silicon Valley high school. Rather, these were very modest and "real" people from relatively small towns who had absolutely no ties to the music, entertainment, or technology industries.

The group consisted of Aubrey (19) from Reno, Nevada; Ratesh (20), also from Reno; Edward (23) from Stockton, California, and Camilla, (18) from Berkeley, California.

Before we hit the stage, I calmed their nerves by telling them they needn't worry about being judged or considered criminals. "Pretend we're just having a conversation in a coffee shop," I told them. "I just want to talk about what you like to do with your free time and how you like to listen to music." I let them know that I personally understood how and why music is considered free and that it was the direct result of an industry not listening to its consumer. I needed them to be open and aware that nothing they said would be used against them.

Newsletter readers: Visit Ypulse.com for the rest of Larry's post.

Let's kick this one off with Forbes list of top tween earners — although it should be more like top earners popular with tweens since Miley Cyrus is tied with "Harry Potter's" Daniel Radcliffe for number one (each earning $25 million last year). Next up, according to the Baltimore Sun, the Jonas Bros. aren't just popular with tweens [and teens and evidently college students], but with moms. The Wall Street Journal weighs in on Traveling Pants 2 echoing that it's all about the girls vs. the pants this time around.

New research covered in today's Media Post (reg. required) says tweens like to shop online before they have mom and dad buy for them. For example, "61% of respondents said that they had involved search in the purchase or recommendation process for electronics like video game systems, mp3 players and digital cameras."

And The N launches a mobile site while the L.A. Times reluctantly disses on the new Sesame website comparing it to corporate competitors like Disney and Nickelodeon. Finally, one theme I've noticed in reviewing all the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board apps is how many tweens and teens love to cook. Seems like Jr. Chefs of America knows this, too.

At the Ypulse Mashup last week, one of our attendees from Boston University asked me who I thought would be a smash hit if they played on campus — I was expecting a band like Radiohead and was really surprised when he mentioned Miley Cyrus. Evidently, just as college students will put Sesame Street sheets on their dorm room beds as a way to embrace the nostalgia of their youth, Disney's tween superstars are becoming cool to like. But do they really like the music or is it liking them in a sort of kitschy way? I'm wondering about this as the Jonas Bros. get set to perform at the VMAs. It was one thing when Miley appeared at Nick's Kids' Choice Awards, but MTV is geared towards teens not tweens. Does this mean they've crossed over or are older teens enjoying the tween idol factor as a way of reminiscing?

I was driving home yesterday listening to NPR's All Things Considered when they ran a short piece from Youth Radio on the number one hit single "I Kissed A Girl." The piece features different teens reacting to the pop song and its message:

I kissed a girl and I liked it
The taste of her cherry chap stick
I kissed a girl just to try it
I hope my boyfriend don't mind it
It felt so wrong
It felt so right
Don't mean I'm in love tonight
I kissed a girl and I liked it
I liked it

Of course with Lindsay and Samantha, lesbian teen characters on "The O.C.," "South of Nowhere," "girl kissers" (even better Youth Radio commentary) have been anointed a trend (New York Times, reg. required).

Sexual experimentation with someone of the same sex is certainly not new — though my sense is that it was always more of a college phenomenon (I remember lots of talk about being "bi-curious" in college) vs. high school until more recently. While there is definitely more tolerance of girls kissing girls (especially if they are both gorgeous and stay with their boyfriends) than boys kissing boys (though the ratings spike after the teen male characters locked lips on "As The World Turns" challenges this notion), I do think the openness to this sort of experimentation at a younger age speaks to bigger cultural shifts such as:

- The average marriage age continuing to inch up — 26 for women and 27 for men. The notion of having a high school sweetheart feels dated to many teens — why be tied down? Instead, boyfriends and girlfriends come and go, there's more "hanging out" in groups and hooking up with friends as a way to experiment/indulge adolescent sexual desire.

- The level of LGBT visibility has increased (along with tolerance) — Ellen kicked open the door, followed by Will & Grace and more recently Tila Tequila and some of the teen shows I mentioned earlier. This generation is more tolerant overall, and we see this in research on their attitudes towards issues like gay marriage. [from Pew's Gen Next Report: "They also lead the way in their support for gay marriage and acceptance of interracial dating."]

- "Porn normal" or the mainstreaming of porn. Girls kissing girls for the benefit of boys has long been a staple of porn — I believe that we see this reflected in the images some teen girls have posted on MySpace or other sites imitating porn-like poses in an attempt to look "sexy." Porn's creep into pop culture and is defining what "sexy" is for lots of young girls.

I think Sophia Chakos-Leiby from Youth Radio really hit on a key issue when she said:

In dealing with sexuality, no one's choices are "wrong," but where do you draw the line between homosexuality, sexual experimentation and just jumping on the trendy girl kissing bandwagon? And in the process, whose lifestyle and identity is at stake?

Bottom line, while the women of our generation may be more experimental with sex - or simply more open about experimentation - we still have a long way to go until we look past gender, see a person, and fall in love.

What's your take on girl kissers?

P.S. This song kind of reminds me (content wise) of the Divinyls one hit wonder — "I touch myself" in terms of pushing out a taboo into the mainstream. She Bop, too, but I'm not sure how many people really knew what that song was about.

My relationship to playing music as a child and teen was, well, fickle at best. I began, like many Gen Xers, playing the piano, er, organ. We didn't have a piano when I was 8, we had an organ. The kind with all the different rhythm tracks like the samba that you could play in the background. Still, just as many kids hated being forced to take piano lessons, I didn't love sitting down with a teacher at our…organ. Though I still can play a mean "London Bridges."

In fourth grade, we had the opportunity to play a stringed instrument — I couldn't wait. I started with the viola, got bored and traded up to the cello. I'll never forget trying to get that cello onto the school bus. I never really liked practicing or playing but I loved the case, the rosin, the bow, the stuff of music. As a teen, I actually fell in love with music — my parents, although they were Boomers and around in the 60s — had nothing to do with this. Since moving to Nashville, my dad became a country music fan (which was heresy to me as a teenager), and my mom was too religious to enjoy secular music — although I did find Carole King's Tapestry buried in some old records.

It was my teenage obsession with David Bowie that brought me back to music lessons. I decided I wanted to play guitar, and we bought a classical guitar. My guitar teacher asked me to bring in a piece of music I wanted to learn. So naturally I brought in my favorite album at the time, David Bowie's Low. He couldn't teach me to play any of the songs but offered to teach me a little Madonna instead. Guitar lessons ended shortly after.

I was reminded of my own history of playing music when I saw a Boston Globe article about how this generation of kids, who have grown up playing Guitar Hero/Rock Band, and whose parents might still listen to bands like Green Day, are demanding rock music lessons. From the article:

Music lessons were once confined to the living room, where parents hounded and their children begrudgingly practiced a classical repertoire. Today, younger and younger kids are picking up electric instruments, assembling into rock 'n' roll bands, and performing for audiences soon after they start playing. Influenced by the music their parents love, not to mention video games and the preteen artists they see on television, kids are asking to rock and getting the chance.

I definitely think documentary films like "Girls Rock," and the movement to get girls to rock out, too, are also part of this trend.

Just in case you need to be reminded that teens are indeed creating copious amounts of content online as well as pursuing other entrepreneurial ventures, I'm rounding up several links sent to me over the weekend.

First up, the folks at Flip.com (CondeNet) sent me a bunch of links to contests they've been running with various organizations to give away scholarship money. Each promotion has links to the winning Flip book and staff picks. It's fun to see what girls are creating using this tool.

- Do Something
- Keep A Breast
- Music Saves Lives
- ASPCA
- Music For All
- GoGoWorld
- AmeriCheer

Speaking of contests, the American Film Institute just launched its site for middle and high school students called Screen Nation, "an online video posting-and-sharing community." Check out their first Claim to Fame Challenge.

And while we're talking about creating videos, the folks at Animoto have been trying to get me to mention them for awhile. This user submitted prom video finally did the trick. It made me want to go to prom again or at least wish I had something like this to document it.

On to teen entrepreneurs. Check out these teens at 1308 Productions (Plum TV profile), a south Florida company that "sponsors all ages live music shows show featuring great young bands and bringing teens together for community service involvement." Finally, who better to promote teen events…than teens? Exactly. That's what inspired these Connecticut teens to create their own agency.

While I love music, I'm not really enough of a fan to be a regular reader of music magazines. Just as some people would say they read Playboy "for the articles," I read Rolling Stone and SPIN for the non-music political features. Crains just ran an article about the sketchy state of music magazines and how many of them have seen sharp declines in ad revenue. From the article:

Ad pages for the three biggest music magazines slid 26% in the first quarter. Jann Wenner's Rolling Stone, the category's iconic publication, saw a 33% drop, according to just-released numbers from Publishers Information Bureau.

The magazines are reeling from the same seismic shift that has rocked the record labels — and which has made popular music more available to consumers than ever before.

Young fans are filling their iPod and Zune libraries straight from the Internet, which is also where they can listen to music and catch the latest news and reviews.

What I found interesting was this notion that even though things are bad, they're not as bad as what's happened in the teen magazine space (i.e. magazines closing). Still, in some ways, I think there is way more competition from online for music than from celebrity/fashion blogs or other sites that have been eating away at teen magazines' readership.

Blender's publisher Ben Madden argues "They need a credible guide. Nothing online can be that guide." I'm not buying it. Between the top music blogs (that are able to break news faster), especially those in the indie space like Stereogum and Pitchfork (which both launched video content recently), I think there will be a teen magazine-like shakeout in the music mag space. It's not just blogs, you have all the social networks wanting to launch music services, which will link artist pages with fans and their own ugc around artists. What do you think?

One of my favorite movies of all time is "Almost Famous." I loved that a teen got to tour with the band, that it was inspired by Cameron Crowe's real life experiences and that the "groupies" including Penny Lane played by Kate Hudson (why has she not had a great role since?) were portrayed as being motivated by the music, or being true fans, instead of as "sluts."

That said, when I read this article (thanks Casey!) about "The Plastics" and their quest to break through the groupie stereotype and "help restore the glamour that surrounded groupies in the '60s," I began to worry. As we saw in "Almost Famous," yes there is glamour, but there's also quite a bit of heartache when you realize you will never replace the girlfriend or wife of your beloved musician. Yes, I know, once of their tips is to never expect them to leave their wife or girlfriend. But even Plastics are human, too.

While I can definitely see the appeal of The Plastics for teen girls who are very into music, I'm not sure that being a groupie is something girls should aspire to. I had my own experiences being a "groupie" of a popular local punk band as a teen — and I think it had more to do with my own low self esteem at the time than being a real fan of this band's hard core sound. Though I did fantasize about being a Bowie groupie as well as hooking up with the late Michael Hutchence (INXS) back then, too.

The Plastics don't say they are developing their brand for teens — but let's be real, that's when most groupies get their start. Even Plastics founder and president Lexa Vonn "first made her way backstage at 14 to meet Poison." Sleeping with band members as a teen is, well, illegal, but it's also just risky behavior. And as much as The Plastics want to expand the definition of "groupie" beyond sex, as the article states:

But here's the thing: It's not about sex.

No, really. Groupies do sleep with musicians — a lot. But sex is not the reason those who think of themselves as "real" groupies want to hang out with rock stars.

I sense The Plastics injecting their own brand of feminism into what they're doing — and if adult women decide to follow (and sleep with) the band as an expression of their love for the music, more power to them. I just don't want to see this series on The CW.