Paid music streaming subs 235m by year end
October 16, 2018
Music streaming continues its ascendance, with the number of paid streaming subscriptions on track to reach 235 million worldwide by the end of 2018, according to a music market report from Futuresource Consulting.
“Streaming subscriptions accounted for over half of all global spend on music last year, a segment which includes packaged music, pay-per-download singles and albums, and streaming music subscriptions,” says David Sidebottom, Principal Analyst at Futuresource Consulting. “In the first half of 2018, the upward trend has continued, tipping the vast majority of key countries beyond the 50 per cent threshold. What’s more, all this growth is not at the expense of the overall market. The momentum is fuelling expansion, with consumer spend on music growing by 10 per cent in 2017.”
Uptake of streaming services is being driven across all fronts, due to service competition, growth in family plans, and smart and wireless speaker uptake, alongside a wider, steadily growing acceptance of streaming media in all its forms.
“This growth isn’t restricted to any particular world territory either,” says Sidebottom. “We’re seeing impressive figures coming in from North America and Europe, while emerging markets are also making their presence felt. By 2022, the number of paid music subscriptions will have grown by half as much again, with the APAC region taking a sizeable share of the total.”
Beyond the two behemoths the market is fragmented, with players like Deezer, Tidal, Napster and Google Play Music/YouTube Music still present in many developed markets, while Amazon has emerged as a player particularly in the USA, UK and Germany.