Record industry warns of piracy threat

IFPI, the organisation that represents the recorded music industry worldwide, has released the Music Listening 2019 report, which examines the way in which music consumers aged 16 to 64 engage with recorded music across 21 countries.

Report highlights:

• Music listening is up. Respondents typically spend 18 hours per week listening to music – up from 17.8 hours in 2018. This equates to about 2.6 hours – or the equivalent of listening to 52 three-minute songs – daily.
• Most people (54 per cent) identify as ‘loving’ or being ‘fanatical’ about music. Among 16 to 24-year-olds, this rises to 63 per cent.
• Older age groups increasingly embrace audio streaming services. Engagement with audio streaming globally is strong, with 64 per cent of all respondents accessing a music streaming service in the past month – up by about 7 per cent over 2018. The highest rate of growth for engagement is in the 35 to 64-year-old age group, with 54 per cent of that group accessing a music streaming service in the past month (+8 per cent on 2018).
• Copyright infringement remains a challenge for the music ecosystem. 27 per cent of all those surveyed used unlicensed methods to listen to or obtain music in the past month, while 23 per cent used illegal stream ripping services – the leading form of music piracy.

“This year’s report tells an exciting story of how fans are increasingly engaging with music,” commented Frances Moore, Chief Executive of IFPI. “At a time when multiple forms of media vie for fans’ attention, they are not only choosing to spend more of their time listening to – and engaging with – music but they are doing so in increasingly diverse ways.”

“The enduring partnership between record companies and artists is the bedrock on which this growing, exciting global world of passionate music listeners is built. Record companies work with their artists to help connect them with fans around the world.

“The report also highlights that the availability of music through unlicensed methods, or copyright infringement, remains a real threat to the music ecosystem. Practices such as stream ripping are still prevalent and return nothing to those who create and invest in music. We continue to coordinate world-wide action to address this.”