Music Streaming Growth Continues Trend Upward

Music Streaming Growth: Very Yes

Music streaming growth just keeps blowing up, and it’s still going to grow for years. A new study by The Insight Partners found that the music streaming market would show “magnificent growth” over the 2019-2027 period. Even more interesting is the impressive list of reasons why. But before we get into that, let’s crunch some numbers on music streaming growth to see what we’re talking about.

For starters, music streaming saw a 34% growth in profit in 2018. Music Business Worldwide reported in August 2019 that music streaming growth means major labels make a million dollars every hour. Amazon Music Unlimited alone grows about 18% each year says eMarketer — except for last year, over which it grew a whopping 70% according to Digital Trends.

Music streaming growth makes so much money, in fact, that experts say it’s the reason profits grew for the fourth straight year over the whole music industry. And that’s easy to figure. After all, music streaming made up about half of all the music profits in 2018. And today, according to 9to5Mac’s Ben Lovejoy, music streaming services add a million subscribers every month.

Aren’t the only ones saying music streaming growth will be massive over the next few years. Lars Brandle for The Industry Observer notes that “by 2022, streaming revenue is projected to be greater than the value of the global recorded music market in 2018.” In other words, everything the music industry earned in 2018 will be less than what streaming makes on its own in about three years.

Streaming Is Here — But Why, and What’s It to Me?

The study by Insight Partners, “Music Streaming Market to 2027 – Global Analysis and Forecasts” gave several reasons for the explosion of music streaming. Each of these tells us how the industry will change to give fans what they want in coming years. Independent music artists can take those notes and use them to plan their own success.

• Cloud tech and increased smartphone use

What TIP said: “The emerging era of streaming media delivery fueled by cloud technologies, high-speed internet and increasing adoption of smartphones is significantly driving the global music streaming market.”

What It Means to You: People will access your music over their phone more and more. That means you should assume your listeners will be on their phones. Optimize your band sites for mobile. Make everything look nice when it’s small. Test your pages on your own phone so you see what your audience sees when they’re tapping towards your music.

• Reduced cost of data

What TIP said: “Since the last few years, the music streaming market is witnessing an upsurge mostly due to the reduced cost of data. The growing consumer disposable income … is creating a significant demand for the music streaming market.”

What It Means to You: It may seem like this says people have lots of money to chuck around. What it really says is people can afford things which don’t cost very much. Music streaming costs about 10 USD a month. If you’re selling your album for ten dollars, you might want to remember that. After all, your album was distributed to Spotify etc. when it was put on iTunes and Amazon for sale, anyhow.

• Regional music offerings

What TIP said: “The subscription models are having a significant impact on the growth of global music streaming market. Vendors are offering regional specific music and original content to attract the customers and to increase the number of subscriptions.”

What It Means to You: You should consider making music specifically for the listeners in your region. Write songs in your native tongue. Make yourself an advocate for the sounds of your area. Chances are, Spotify and the others will market you to your neighbors as being the voice of your town, city, or even state.

• New streaming applications

What TIP said: “In the music streaming market, the trend of cloud-based music is being witnessed. Moreover, vendors are developing various user-friendly applications for easy streaming of music over smartphones and tablets.”

What It Means to You: Music applications which use the cloud in new ways come out every season. Make an effort to search for them and see which might help you. If you use an app to help your music career which doesn’t use the cloud somehow, there’s probably a better one out there.

• Company strategies

What TIP said: “Various companies are focusing on organic growth strategies such as product launches, product approvals and others such as patents and events. Inorganic growth strategies activities witnessed in the market were acquisitions, and partnership & collaborations. These activities have paved the way for expansion of business and customer base of market players.”

What It Means to You: Spotify, Amazon, Google, Apple, and all the others constantly launch new products and services to attract new customers. This for sure includes shiny new things to help you, such as Spotify for Artists, Apple Music for Artists, and Facebook Insights.

Take Advantage of Music Streaming Growth, Thank Yourself Later

In the end, the takeaway is that indie artists today should expect their music to be streamed more and more. If your music isn’t available for streaming today, the above statistics show that you’re only reaching half your audience. What’s more, you’ll be missing out on even more listeners with every passing year.

But with a keen eye for new cloud-based apps, mobile-optimized pages for your fans, and a ton of music available to stream live anywhere online, you’ll be set for 2020 and beyond. And that’s what bringing your sounds to listeners is all about.