Midlife Tip: Don't feel you need to act "old" just because of your chronological age; Exhibit A: Music

One of the reasons people age is because they act old. When I was in high school sports, I had a cross-country coach who said that racing was 90% mental. I didn't buy it back then and thought "those three miles of hills are 100% physical". However, as I've gained perspective I believe that he was right and that the wisdom wasn't limited to running.

At some point we just start acting old and stop doing certain things that we enjoy. For example, discovering new music. When I was in the record business many years ago, we paid almost no attention to consumers over 30 years old. They just didn't buy music or if they did it would be oldies, classical or jazz--not the kind of thing that generates blockbusters.

However a funny thing has happened with the baby boomer generation. They loved music growing up and bought a lot of vinyl in the 60s and 70s. Then in the 80s they replaced those scratched and warped records with CDS. This was to be expected but what no one expected is that now in their 50s, boomers are still buying music, and a lot of it. According to the snarky blog, Die Boomer Die:

The latest US research shows baby boomers and beyond now account for the largest share of music buyers. Figures compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America show that consumers over 45 accounted for 25% of music sales last year, more than twice the share of any other age group, and up from 15% a decade ago. Perhaps most surprisingly, the over-50s were responsible for 24% of the music industry's online sales.

Danny Bennett, Tony Bennett's son and manager, said said this of the over-50s, "This is a generation that is determined to stay young forever."

He's got that right.