Total market for streaming music growing
The total market for streaming music services in 2021 reached almost 524 million worldwide listeners. That is a growth of 109.5 million people (+26%) compared to the previous year. This is partly due to the fact that more people are staying at home because of COVID. Apple Music managed to attract more customers, but still lags behind Spotify considerably. Spotify now has 31%, but there is a decline: in 2019 it was 34% and in 2020 it was 33%. Amazon Music and Tencent Music each have 13% market share and YouTube Music accounts for 8% globally. Other music services such as Deezer score lower.
The survey was conducted by MIDiA Research and relates to the second quarter of 2021. The figures show that Apple has passed the limit of 78 million paying users, while Spotify on 160 million paying users. So there is little chance that Spotify will lose its leading role in the coming years. However, other players appear to be able to grow further, so it still makes sense to keep them in the air. The fastest growing music service in the past two years, for example, is YouTube Music, which is still at 8% but has potential.
It is also good to know that the revenues of the streaming services have not always increased. That's because more and more people are opting for family bundles, discount bundles (like Apple One), or taking advantage of lower pricing in emerging markets. These emerging markets also ensure that the total number of listeners continues to grow: more and more people can afford a smartphone with a monthly subscription to a music service.
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