LONDON, Oct 9, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – If you are listening to music, chances are
you’re on YouTube.
A music consumer report by the industry’s global body IFPI published on
Tuesday found that 86 percent of us listen to music through on-demand
streaming.
And nearly half that time, 47 percent is spent on YouTube.
Video as a whole accounted for 52 percent of the time we spent streaming
music, posing challenges to such subscription services as Spotify and
SoundCloud.
But while Spotify’s estimated annual revenue per user was $20 (17.5
euros), YouTube’s was less than a dollar.
The London-based IFPI issued a broader overview in April that found
digital sales for the first time making up the majority of global revenues
thanks to streaming.
The report published on Tuesday looked into where and when we listen to
music.
It found that three in four people globally use smartphones, with the rate
among 16 to 24 year olds reaching 94 percent.
The highest levels were recorded in India, where 96 percent of consumers
used smartphones for music, including 99 percent of young adults.
But music does not end when we put away our phones, with 86 percent
globally also listening to radio.
Copyright infringement was still a big issue, with unlicensed music
accounting for 38 percent of what was consumed around the world.
“This report also shows the challenges the music community continues to
face — both in the form of the evolving threat of digital copyright
infringement as well as in the failure to achieve fair compensation from some
user-upload services,” said IFPI chief Frances Moore.
The report noted that “96% of consumers in China and 96% in India listen
to licensed music”.
It did not, however, say how many of those consumers also listened to
music that infringed copyrights.
Overall, the average consumer spent 2.5 hours a day listening to music,
with the largest share of it consumed while driving, the industry report
said.