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Active Twitter users are more engaged with online music and are more likely to make purchases than non-users of the microblogging service, according to a new report from the NPD Group.

"NPD's latest music-acquisition study shows that there are segments of consumers who are more actively integrating Twitter as a key tool for communicating and networking," said Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD.

"Based on their music-purchasing history, active Twitter users are simply worth more to record labels and music retailers than those who are not using Twitter."

Russ Crupnick

According to NPD's consumer tracking, 33 percent of Twitter users reported buying a CD in the past three months, and 34 have purchased a digital download, which compares positively to overall Internet users (at 23% and 16%, respectively).

When Twitter users purchased music, they also spent more money than non-users. People on Twitter purchased 77 percent more online music, on average, than those not using the service.

Twitter users are also much more likely than average Internet users to be engaged in online music activities - one-third listened to music on a social networking site, 41 percent listened to online radio (compared to 22% among all Web users), and 39 percent watched a music video online (versus 25 percent among all Internet users). Twitter users were also twice as likely than average Internet users to visit MySpace Music and Pandora.

"Twitter has the potential to help foster the discovery of new music, and improve targeted marketing of music to groups of highly-involved and technologically savvy consumers, but it has to be done right," Crupnick said.

"There must be a careful balance struck between entertainment and direct conversation on one hand, and marketing on the other. Used properly Twitter has the power to entertain -- and to motivate music fans to purchase more new albums, downloads, merchandise, and concert tickets."