Survey: NZ music fans 'patriotic'

New Zealanders are highly patriotic in their music tastes, according to survey results released today.

Social networking website MySpace said 19 of the top 20 acts chosen by South Islanders came from New Zealand.

Local artists were almost as popular in the North Island, with 17 making the top 20 list.

Many unsigned artists featured in the selections.

The only international names included were Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson and The Darlings.

New Zealand Music Commission executive co-ordinator Steve Newall was delighted with the findings.

"It's great to see such a massive chunk of the MySpace Top 20 lists taken up by local artists and even more impressive that they span such a wide range of genres and levels of exposure," he said.

"There really is a staggering amount of great music of different kinds finding its way into New Zealanders' ears."

MySpace New Zealand head of business development Susan Carlton said the lists were based on the music that half a million New Zealanders had sought out over the past three months.

With more people getting their music online, she believed the lists provided a better indication of popularity than the "defunct" method of looking at album sales alone.

South Island Top 20: Patrik Fitzgerald, MedicTune, Legacy of Disorder, Jessica Denton, Minuit, Skatelly Kat Gang, Sand Fly Bay, Six60, Taylor Swift, Sick Section, Haylar, Tightlipped, Our Fallen, The Checks, Tim Finn, The Bats, Gin Wigmore, The Eastern Family, We the Night Sky, Chris Matthews and Robot Monkey Orchestra.

North Island Top 20: Sick Section, Minuit, Midnight Youth, KIDS OF 88, Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson, Gin Wigmore, The Darlings, The Earlybirds, Shotgun Alley, MedicTune, Patrik Fitzgerald, The Checks, Svartalvheim, Frayden, Family Cactus, The Cherished Collective, A Kiss GoodBye, Clap Clap Riot, Computers Want Me Dead.

- NZPA