The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the trade body for the worldwide record business, released its Music Consumer Insight Report for the year, which examines how music consumers ages 16 to 64 engage with recorded music in 20 of the world’s largest music markets. (Download the full report here.)
To no one’s surprise, streaming continues to dominate music listening, with 86% of respondents engaging in music that way, with 57% in the 16- to 24-year-old demo using a paid audio service. Another finding shows nearly half of the time spent listening to on-demand music is through YouTube, with 52% of that total on video streaming, 28% on paid audio streaming and 20% on free audio streaming. As far as returning fair value to the music community, Spotify delivers $20 to every $1 for YouTube, which means theirs is still a gap to overcome.
Old-school terrestrial radio remains relevant, though, too, with 86% of consumers listening at least part of the time to music on the dial (or the computer, as the case may be) and a surprising 25% of all hours spent listening. Overall, respondents listened to 17.8 hours of music per week on average, with the car being the most popular location.
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The top five genres break down as such: Pop (64%), Rock (57%), EDM (32%), soundtracks (30%) and hip-hop (26%).
Regional listening was also on the rise, with 66% of Japanese consumers tuned to J-Pop, 69% in France listening to Variété Française and, in Brazil, 55% listening to Música Popular Brasileira.
Consumption in previously copyright-infringing countries like China and India now tends towards licensed music, with a total of 96% in both countries listening to legitimate sources. Still copyright infringement remains an issue, with 38% of consumers obtaining music through infringing methods, stream ripping dominating with 32% of the audience.
Commented IFPI Chief Executive Frances Moore: “Record companies are working with their partners to sustain and develop these rich and diverse ways in which music is being enjoyed, ensuring that it continues on its exciting journey around the world. … However, 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. Policymakers around the globe have been scrutinizing these issues and increasingly acting to address them.”