A survey by market research company Synovate, presented during the 2009 Music Matters Asia Pacific Music Forum in Hong Kong, highlights a number of important digital trends in the Asian youth market:

—  IMPORTANCE: Music represents a significant part of cultural identity among the young in India (83%), the Philippines (80%), Vietnam (77%), China (69%), Thailand (67%) and Indonesia (65%).

— LEADING MUSIC DEVICES: Computers are the leading device (32%) through which Asian youth listen to music followed by MP3 players (27%) and mobile phones (23%).

— MOBILE MUSIC: Over 50% of young mobile phone owners have used it to listen to music with the following countries leading the way: Thailand (70%), Hong Kong, China (63%) Vietnam (62%) and Malaysia and India (both at 61%).

— PAYING FOR MUSIC: Only 11% of young Asian consumers paid for downloads in the past month versus 41% who downloaded “free” music during the same period. Korea (20%), India (19%), China (12%) and Vietnam (11%) had the largest shares pf consumers paying for music while the largest share of unpaid downloads occurred in China (55%), Malaysia (50%), Vietnam (49%) and Hong Kong (47%).

Synovate surveyed 8,841 respondents aged 15 to 24 years in China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.