Since the beginning of the lockdown in European countries, people do not listen to music the same way they used to. Overall, streaming platforms pointed out a fall in their figures when it came to be listening to music. How do they explain that? How does that impact the streaming industry? The Audencia Business School, based in Paris, shared their thoughts with you in this blog.
Overall, we do not listen to music as much as before, but there are some successes online
Some countries are more touched than others in terms of music consumption. For instance in Italy, the physical sales declined of 60% since the beginning of the Corona crises. There are two main reasons to that : first, fewer new songs are released, which does not stimulate the audience anymore. Most importantly is the fact that people do not move as often as they used to. Indeed, we are used to listen to music when we take the car or public transportation on our way to work. With those habits gone, we do not take the same time to listen to music.
Around the world, the month of March has been the sign of a decline for Spotify with an average listening drop of 11,7%. However, the figures rose back after the release of The Weeknd’s last album, After Hours, (20th of march). The album came up first on the Billboard with more than 169,000 sales equivalents the 1st week. The same phenomenon has been observed in France with the French rapper Ninho.
After Hours - The WeekndHowever, new reports tend to say that the figures are rising back and being steady, with a change in our consumption habits : Deezer and Spotify pointed out that instead of having peaks of listening times (when we go to work and when we get back home), they recorded continuous listening times between 10 am and 5 pm.
What does it say about our way to consume music streaming nowadays?
The new habits on streaming platforms
Deezer and Spotify declared that their stats showed that people tended to listen to podcasts and playlists related to staying at home or feel good content. In addition, playlists focused on domestic activities are becoming more and more popular: we all need a good mitvation right?
Streaming platforms have also implemented content for children, which is highly listened to. Lastly, they noticed that the smartphone is not the main channel to listen to music anymore, at the profil of laptops, intelligent speakers or even video-game consoles.
Also, the rise of the video streaming is taking more time during lockdown. People watch movies and play video games more than they listen to music. This has been shown in France and around different countries. A figure that strikes on that topic: Disney+ now gathers more than 50 million subscribers around the world!
Now, some streaming platforms like Qobuzz use the revenue from your 1st month subscription to support their artists as well. Apple Music also starts an advance of more than 50 million $ to support independent artists. The service Artist Fundraising Pick by Spotify by Spotify also aims at helping musicians by offering their fans the possibility to give some extra money through the website.
Even though the platforms noticed that after a bit of a rollercoaster, the figures started to get more stable but still lower than in regular times. One thing is sure, we tend to listen to music everyday when we are busy and not only for the sake of it. Some could argue that attending gigs is way brings us and music together.
MS® MFM - Audencia Students and Partners. Picture : Jean-Michel Rousvoal
Sources : News Tank Culture, Music Business Worldwide, Billboard.
What do you think? Do you listen to music as often as before? Do you listen to the same thing? Have you checked the Gigstarter Playlist?
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