ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the role of age in the music marketplace. It looks the physical and social aspects of ageing in terms of production and consumption. Probably the first supposed killing off of the old in modern mass market music was the impact the Beatles may have had on finishing careers. Economists have not shown much interest in the overall age profile of consumers nor have they said much about the role of age in the supply side or production of music. In terms of popular music, this is not surprising as there is very little work full stop, in economics, on the creative production side. Age may be related to a number of passage of time effects. A standard static microeconomic theory of consumption would overlook the life-cycle pattern of income and treat current music consumption as a function of current income.
