The spirited debate in the comments section over new media versus traditional media is an interesting one.  What interests me most about it is, how do people find new music?  But here are some background figures.

The gap between teenagers and adults as radio listeners continues to widen.  Over the last five years teenagers' radio listening has declined by 3 hours a week versus 1 hour a week decline in adults.  On average in 2004, teens in Canada spend 8.5 hours a week listening to radio. (Statscan)  I highly doubt that teens find new music from radio.  The recent reports of payola confuse me.  If radio listening is in decline, why would you pay to have it put on radio? 

As for television, the slowest growth in television comes in the conventional television channels in 2004 at 0.9%.  However specialty and pay-tv stations increased by 9%. (Statscan) 

The financial report of CHUM, one of Canada's media conglomerates and owner of the MuchMusic, reflects these general statistics.  The revenue from their conventional station has severely lagged their specialty and pay-tv channels.  This is not just because of advertising drawn to specialty stations but because CHUM earns subscriber revenue from the cable carriers.

MuchMusic and its derivatives does bring in revenue for CHUM.  Do teenagers still watch MuchMusic to find new music?  According to CHUM's own promotional material MuchMusic is actually geared towards 18-34 year olds and not teenagers who I would place at 12 - 18 years old.  This surprised me quite a bit since I do pass the screaming hordes outside the City-TV building every so often.

I'm in the 18-34 year old group and I don't watch MuchMusic but  I don't buy cable.  (Off-air baby!  Off-air). 

Are you in the 18-34 age bracket and a buyer of cable with MuchMusic in your package? 
Do you find your new music that way? 
Is that how you buy CDs? 

Please post and let me know.  I am sincerely interested.

And Black Stations, White Stations... This is 1984 (M+M) This song nicely reflects that despite its glam and superficial shock-value, television afterall is an inherently conservative industry.  Times change.