In my previous blog I discussed my personal timeline with
different music streaming services and why I chose one platform over the other.
I ended my blog explaining how I currently use Spotify and why I believe it is
the best service for what I want and need. In this blog, I will examine the
rise in streaming and the success this new model has had on the industry.
Before streaming existed the main source of music consumption was
through iTunes, physical CDs, and radio. Now, the recent shift has moved to
streaming. According to MIDiA Research, overall streaming customers has
surpassed 100 million, with Spotify leading the market with forty-three
percent. In comparison, Spotify has around 9 million more subscribers than Sirius
XM (Resnikoff, 2016).
Before I started researching this topic, I knew streaming was becoming the dominate music source for listening; however, I did not realize how much of an impact these new services were making. In my opinion, one of the main reasons for the recent upswing in usage is the way our generation now consumes products - immediately with zero patience. People in general, although mostly millennials, have very short attention spans. Therefore, the simplicity and ease of streaming is very appealing. Going out a buying a CD is too time consuming. Searching iTunes and listening to previews is aggravating. Hoping you will like a song on the radio is a guessing game. Streaming differs as it allows the customer to not only play music whenever they want, and wherever they want, but it also appeals to our affection with new technology. In todays world, everyone wants the new "hot" technology and we are easily influenced by what other people are interested in (Babin, 2016, p. 157). Group influence plays a major role in streaming, not only because other people may be using it, but it allows us to bond together. For example, if someone is playing music through a speaker, and you want to change a song but don't understand the software, or streaming platform they are using, you miss out.
In the begging, the industry was anxious as streaming was not turning large enough profits. However, recently, companies started seeing big dollars come in and have understood the best ways to bring in big money through these new platforms. "Profits from music streaming, first championed by Spotify and now offered by Apple and Amazon, have given some labels their largest surge in revenue in more than a decade" (Ellis-Petersen, 2016). The music business is finally starting to see real growth in streaming and the industry is starting to turn a new tide. The exciting part is that their isn't one main dominator, in terms of music service or record label. All three majors (Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group) have each grossed $1 Billion in streaming and each platform (Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Pandora, etc.) is gaining new users every day. For someone like me, a senior looking to work in the music business upon graduation, is extremely happy with all this data because now that companies are making more money, they will hopefully start hiring more employees.
Citations:
Babin,
B., & Harris, E. (2016). In CB 7 (7th ed., pp. 157). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Resnikoff, P. (2016, September
6). More Than 100 Million People Now Paying for Streaming Music Services. Retrieved from http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/09/06/100-million-subscribers-streaming-music/
Ellis-Petersen, H.
(2016, December 29). Music streaming hailed as industry’s savior as labels
enjoy profit surge. Retrieved from
Great post Josh! I agree that music streaming is the most popular and effective method of listening to music for younger consumers. For older consumers, like my father, making the switch from CDs to music streaming is a little more difficult. My dad has very high involvement with buying music as he has an entire room in our house dedicated to his music collection (Babin/Harris, 2016, p. 63). While he is uncomfortable with the idea of music streaming, record stores are going out of business and he is finding it harder and harder to buy CDs he likes. I introduced him to Spotify, and due to his high involvement in the music industry, he is slowly beginning to use the application and embrace music streaming.
ReplyDeleteBabin, B., & Harris, E. (2016). CB 7 (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.