worldwide streaming subscriptions grew by a healthy 26.4%.

Most music-lovers understand that streaming services can’t be free. However, overpriced services are definitely not appreciated. Often, these complaints are linked to in-app bugs or server errors. When experiencing a bug, a user is less likely to think the platform is worth the cost.

Investing in app infrastructure is an important way to ensure users are getting value for money.

9216kbps / 24-bit / 192kHz quality available from competing services like Tidal

increased to 205 million as of December 31st

Music streaming dominates the US music listening market, representing more than 4/5 of total music industry revenue.

The sale of physical copies contributes to 16,1% of the music industry revenue. In the US sales of physical copies contribute merely 10% of revenue.

Sound quality (56%) and price (56%) are the most important streaming service features.

Ad-supported streaming brings almost the same revenue to the global music industry as physical format sales.  Free streaming brings $4.6 billion ($3.5 billion in 2020, which is a 31% increase), whereas physical format sales represent $5 billion.

78% of people listen to music using some sort of music streaming service. <img decoding="async" width="960" height="270" src="https://headphonesaddict.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Almost-80-of-people-listen-to-music-via-a-music-streaming-service-1.png" alt="Almost 80% of people listen to music via a music streaming service" class="wp-image-10352"/> That takes into account both paid and ad-supported streaming services.

The main 3 reasons why people pay for a music streaming subscriptions are: No ads to interrupt the music Millions of songs to choose from Listening to whatever they want when they want

Users streamed 2.74 trillion songs worldwide in 2021. Coming from 2.17 trillion streams in 2020 (a 26.3% difference).

In 2021, US users streamed 988.1 billion songs. In 2020, that number was 877 billion.

Subscription music represents 32% of all music engagement. Paid streaming represents 23% and ad-supported 9% of music sources.

Here’s a table with a breakdown of music sources: Music consumption sourcePercentagePaid music streaming23%Video streaming22%Radio16%Short videos (TikToks)11%Ad-supported music streaming9%Purchased music (CDs, downloads)9%Other (Netflix, music borrowing)5%Social media3%Live shows2%

In 2021, users spent 18.4 hours per week listening to music, which is an official Guinness World Record.

More stats on how much music an average user listens: Hours per dayHours per week3-minute songs per daySongs per week2.6h18.4h36852

62% search for a particular artist, whereas 62% mostly listen to their own playlists.

81% of vinyl record buyers also pay for a music streaming service

Among music fans who acquire music illegally, 27% of them obtained or listened to music by ripping songs from music streaming sites.

The most-streamed music genre in the US was R&B/Hip Hop, with a 29.8% share. Followed by rock (17.3%), pop (13.1%), and country (8.1%), with jazz (0.8%) being the least streamed genre.

Important music streaming featuresSound quality56%Price56%Ease of making a playlist48%Ease of downloading music43%Ease of discovering new music36%Access to exclusive music24%Brand trust19%Availability of music videos12%Integration with smart assistant10%Other5%

When streaming at 320kbps quality, you’ll use 2.4MB of data per minute and 144MB per hour.

To burn an entire 1GB of data, you’ll have to stream for 6.9 hours.

PlatformFree tier qualityPaying tier qualityMax qualityTIDAL160kbps (US only)1411kbps24bit/192kHz (4608kbps)Spotify160kbps320kbps320kbpsApple Music/256kbps24bit/192kHzAmazon Music Unlimited/3730kbps24bit/192kHzDeezer128kbps320kbps16bit/44.1kHz (1411kbps)Qobuz/1411kbps24bit/192kHzYouTube Music/256kbps256kbpsSoundCloud Go+256kbps256kbps256kbpsPandora64kbps192kbps192kbps

1 million Spotify streams pay $4000 to the artist.

Amazon Music users & revenue