Reports: music services

2018 was yet another strong year for streaming music growth, with the leading streaming services consolidating their market shares. Consumer adoption continues to grow but as leading markets mature, future growth will depend upon mid-tier markets and later on emerging markets.

2016 was the year that streaming turned the recorded music business into a good news story, with revenue growth so strong that it drove nearly a billion dollars of total growth. Leading streaming services spent the year competing with ever more impressive metric, while playlisting and streaming exclusives became cornerstones of the wider music market both culturally and commercially.

There is a significant behavioural and demographic overlap between gamers and music consumers. An affinity for music, adoption of subscription services, attendance of live music events, merchandise sales and following celebrities on social media, are just a few of the many indicators in which gamers over-index, compared to average consumers.

2016 was the year that streaming turned the recorded music business into a good news story, with revenue growth so strong that it drove nearly a billion dollars of total growth. Leading streaming services spent the year competing with ever more impressive metrics while playlisting and streaming exclusives became cornerstones of the wider music market both culturally and commercially.

Q2 2016 emerged as a watershed moment for streaming music, with label streaming revenue growing strongly enough to lift overall revenues for all three major labels. Meanwhile Spotify and Apple registered record growth, soon followed by streaming announcements from Amazon, Pandora and iHeart Media.

2015 was the year streaming music came of age, with robust growth from market leader Spotify and the rapid ascent into second place of new entrant Apple Music. Though questions remain about the commercial viability of the model right across the value chain, there is no doubt that momentum is now with streaming.