MusicWatch: Music Engagement And Spending Hit Record Highs Driven By Streaming, Vinyl, Social Video

(Hypebot) — Music engagement and spending are at file ranges as extra US shoppers embrace music subscriptions and discover music in a extra numerous method than ever, in response to the newest client analysis from Music Watch.

The variety of Individuals spending on recorded music hit a 15 yr excessive of 211 million with spending per purchaser surging in 2021. That is per latest stats from the RIAA ( RIAA year-end revenue report 2021) which confirmed US recorded music revenues up 23%.

Tright here have been three major drivers of this sturdy progress:

• elevated adoption of music streaming,
• growling curiosity in vinyl by the youthful demos
• the actually meteoric rise of social video.

Highlights from the 2021 MusicWatch client survey

1. The variety of US recorded music consumers hit a 15 yr excessive, at 121 million, or half the US web inhabitants aged 13 and older. That is an 11 % improve over 2020, and a 51 % achieve off the low of 80 million in 2014.
2. Recorded Music spend grew by 5 % this yr, to a median of $98, together with streaming subscriptions (however not Sirius or Amazon Prime), vinyl data, CDs and digital downloads. Total spend, together with recorded music, merchandise, reside occasions, paid reside streams and SiriusXM subscriptions grew by 14 % to $122 per capita.

3. There are 211 million music streamers within the US, together with “pure play” music companies and video companies from YouTube. That interprets to 87 % of the web utilizing inhabitants who skilled streaming not less than as soon as throughout 2021.
4. The variety of paid subscribers hit a file 97 million. Together with those that subscribe to SiriusXM satellite tv for pc radio and use their Amazon Prime subscription to entry Amazon Music, the overall paid base jumps to 130 million- greater than double the quantity from 5 years in the past, with 56 million in 2017.
5. In keeping with RIAA’s reporting that the worth of vinyl shipments rose by 61 %, MusicWatch famous that the variety of new vinyl album consumers jumped by 27 % in 2021, and common spend per vinyl purchaser grew by 19 %. The expansion in consumers was closely fueled by youthful shoppers, aged 13-24.
6. The CD shopping for inhabitants grew for the primary time in a few years, additionally amongst younger shoppers. MusicWatch has famous that the broadly reported “CD resurgence” could also be a mirage because the long-term pattern in CD listening, in automobiles and at residence, stays unfavourable; and plenty of CD KPI’s stay beneath pre-pandemic ranges.
7. By way of how Individuals take heed to music, streaming stays the preferred format, with pure play and video companies comparable to YouTube, Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon accounting for 32 % of weekly music listening time. Broadcast and digital radio follows, with a 17 % share. MusicWatch for the primary time broke out time spent listening to music and dance movies on platforms comparable to TikTok, Instagram Reels and Triller. These social video platforms account for 11 % of weekly music listening.
8. Utilization and engagement metrics round music on social video platforms are astounding. Over half the inhabitants is utilizing social video for music or dance movies they usually spend almost 7 hours per week on the platform; 48 % interact each day, greater than for streaming or radio.
9. Sharing of paid streaming accounts, which had been surging, leveled off in 2021, as extra undertake household plans and acquire their very own subscriptions.
10. Stream-ripping of tune recordsdata continues to be a plague, with an estimated 19 million ripping not less than one music file throughout 2021.
11. 95 % of web customers actively use a number of units that may facilitate music streaming; smartphones, good TVs, streaming media bins or good audio system. MusicWatch famous that progress in good speaker utilization stalled throughout 2021.
12. Traditional Rock stays the nation’s “favourite” style. We requested shoppers which genres they recurrently take heed to, add to playlists, attend exhibits, or purchase recorded music or merch. Traditional Rock was #1, chosen by 24 %; HipHop by 21 % and Nation by 20 %.

Methodology

MusicWatch’s Annual Music Examine consists of two client analysis tasks, the primary consisting of 5,000 respondents fastidiously weighted to signify the US web utilizing population13 and older. This aspect seems at shopping for and music engagement patterns, and gathers motivations for music behaviors.

That is complemented with a research of US web customers to grasp weekly music listening habits.

Each research have been fielded January 2022. The MusicWatch research is the longest working profile of the US music client, having begun in 2002.

Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired each publications in 2019. He’s the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.