Emerging Music Markets Streaming’s Third Wave

Our clients have full access to all of our reports. Clients can log in to read this report. Click here to become a client or, you can purchase this individual report.

The 20,000 Foot View:  With streaming growth set to slow in mature western markets by 2019, the next wave of fast growth will come from a mixture of mid-tier markets such as Mexico, Brazil, Japan and Germany. Beyond that, the streaming market will need to look towards emerging markets for growth. Emerging markets in Asia and Africa present a diverse variety of opportunities, but current evidence suggests that the outlook for these markets is far from uniform.

Key Findings

• Chinese music subscribers totalled        million in 2017, up from        million one year earlier, while the sum total of reported free users totalled        million 
• Tencent dominates music streaming in China, with        of subscriptions and a sum total of        million free users across QQ Music, Kuwo and Kugou
       2018 Chinese free streaming penetration was        while        tip karaoke on QQ and        do karaoke themselves
• Indian music subscribers totalled less than one million in 2017, generating revenue of        million, while the sum of reported free users totalled        million
• In India Hungama was the leading service with        million MAUs, followed by Tencent-backed Gaana on        million
• Free streaming penetration in India        2018 was        reflecting an early growing market with most of its growth ahead of it
• The recorded music market in sub-Saharan Africa was worth about        million in retail terms in 2017 and        million in label revenue terms, streaming revenue was        million
• Telcos are the key force in the sub-Saharan African digital music market, including MTN, which generates revenues of around        million a year, across        million customers
• East Africa focused Mdundo has the largest installed base of streaming users in sub-Saharan Africa, with just two million MAUs
• YouTube dominates sub-Saharan African streaming and is helping local artists find international audiences
• The Middle Eastern streaming market generated        million in 2017 in label trade terms. 
• After years of copyright challenges, the Russian streaming market is finally growing, led by Vkontakte Music with        million subscribers 

Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Africha, Africori, Apple Music, Baidu Music, Deezer, du, Etisalat, Gaana, Hungama, iRoking, Jio Music, Kugou, Kuwo, Mdundo, Mkito, Mobile Money Kenya, Mobile Money Tanzania, Mobily, MTN, MTN Music+, Mzliki, Netease, Netease Cloud Music, QQ Messenger, QQ Music, Reliance Communications, Samsung, Safaricom, Saavn, Simfy Africa, Skiza, Tencent, Tencent Music, Vkontakte, Vkontakte Music, Vuga, WeChat, Wynk Music, Yala.FM, Yandex, Yandex Music, YouTube, Zvook