Written by: Amanda Graves
Within the past few years, streaming services have become the primary way listeners are consuming their music. There were over 400 billion audio streams reported in 2017 with 12.5% growth in streaming – and the numbers are only going to keep growing. So, what can we expect for the future of music streaming services? It is projected by some that paid audio streaming will be a key factor of growth in the music industry and will continue to rise 5% each year until 2020.
The top runners in the audio streaming industry have been, and continue to be, Spotify and Apple Music. Last reported in 2017, Spotify has 70 million paying subscribers and is competing with Apple’s 30 Million. The user gap between these two has stayed steady, even as the two have grown. But the title does not come without their problems. Neither of the companies has yet to make a profit from their streaming apps, most likely due to the cost of licensing fees for copyrighted songs. An increase in paying subscribers and advertisers could be a potential fix for this issue.
Streaming services hold a lot of weight when it comes to an artist’s success. Spotify has over two billion playlists, both user-created as well as Spotify’s own generated collections. An up-and-coming artist could earn major revenue and recognition after being placed in the Discover Weekly or New Music Friday playlists.
Within the next few years, it is projected that music streaming services will only keep growing, the number of paying subscribers are going to continue to rise, and will further encourage the success of future artists. These services helped the music industry rebound after years of decline – and although it is hard to tell the future of music streaming services – it is looking up from here.
1. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2018/2017-music-us-year-end-report.html
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