Study: 19% of Americans Are Now Actively Using Subscription Services…

That’s Spotify, Rhapsody, Muve Music, whatever, free or paid within the past six months, according to findings just shared by Ipsos MediaCT.  Which is a bit more than half that of paid download platforms, primarily iTunes and Amazon MP3, at least in the US.

subscriptionpenetration2013

Of course the number is off the charts in Sweden, but the question is how aggressively that number ramps in other countries.  In the US, even a mild ramp-up could make a big difference: currently. Spotify, Rhapsody, and Muve Music alone count roughly 3.5 million paying subscribers.

Then again, we should warn that the Ipsos report does have that curious ‘sponsored research’ odor.  Which might be because the report was commissioned by label trade group IFPI, and packaged into the group’s recently-issued 2013 sales report.  The study involved roughly 7,500 survey participants across the nine countries, which, according to Ipsos, represent 80 percent of the total music market.

Oh, and Japan?  That’s another article entirely (weren’t they renting CDs up until recently)?

6 Responses

  1. Visitor

    according to IFPI, # of paid subscribers subscription music worldwide

    2010: 8.2 mil

    2011: 13.4 mil

    2012: 20 mil

    Of this 20 millions, Spotify has 25% of the pie with 5 million paying subscribers. Deezer, with 3 millions paying subscribers, have 15%. Melon (South Korea), with 3 million paying subscribers, also have 15%.

    • Rob

      19% of UK Internet users = 10 million

      19% of USA Internet users = 40 million

      I’m having trouble making these percentages add up to the known number of users of known services.

      Is there a massive new one that’s operating in secret?

      • Uriale

        “19% of USA Internet users = 40 million”

        This might make sense.

        Total paying subs? 3.5, maybe even 4 million. (Spotify is 1 MM, Muve 1.4 MM, Rhapsody 1 MM, etc.)

        Which is 10% paid. The rest are ad-supported freebie land

  2. Marty Koenig

    Personally, I use Slacker – it’s way better than pandora. I can pick an artist and it will play all the albums from that artist only. I can pick an album and it will play the entire album beginning to end. Not bad for $10 per month.