77% of US Internet Users Above Age Of 13 Streaming Music
If you didn’t already know that streaming was the ubiquitous form of music consumption already, there is a new study to confirm it. A new study by MusicWatch, as seen by Billboard, shows that 77% of the US population over the age of 13 streamed music in the second quarter of 2019. In total that is 183 million people.
The facts around this are staggering. This 77% consumption is a 13% increase from the same time last year. Even better for services and artists, 125 million of those who are streaming, use paid streaming subscription services. The per-stream payouts on subscription streams are higher than those from just ad-supported streams. However, only 68 million of those are personally paying, which could mean there are those using family plans or on trials. This is still a 21% increase from 56 million six months prior.
YouTube is the biggest streaming service. It has a 30% share of the 183 million, followed by Spotify at 24% and Pandora at 17%. Apple Music and Amazon Music each account for 6%.
Paid subscriptions tell an interesting story. 39% of paid streamers use Spotify Premium. Amazon and Apple account for 17% of those premium users.
Another important takeaway is how many users have smart speakers. 40% of the internet population of 13 claim to use the devices. 100 million people are expected to use them this year.
As a result in the rise of streaming, radio has taken a hit. The share of music listening used to be about equal, but now streaming accounts for 39% of listening hours and FM/AM listening is just 16%. Vinyl is still only 2%.
If your music isn’t on streaming services, you are missing out on hundreds of millions of customers who might hear your music and potentially attend a gig or buy merch.
