1. Home

The State of Music Subscription. May, 2013…

Paul Resnikoff
14

Here’s the latest tally of paying subscribers, based on information released by the companies themselves.  Sirius XM, Pandora, and Deezer are among the latest to update; Spotify may be readying another big milestone.

14 Responses

  1. Visitor

    SiriusXM is the way to go, primarily because of the portability – and by portability I mean… THE CAR…

    If Spotify, Pandora, Rhapsody were 100% reliable in a car, without data caps, overages, or throttling… it’s a different story, until then…

    • Paul Resnikoff

      Only thing I’ve heard on either of those is that subscriber levels are very, very low. But neither has disclosed. Earlier, we’ve estimated as low as 5,000 paying (for each).

      • Casey

        I think Rdio has been misleading. The sheer amount of online reviews/comments made tells me they have either an unusually active user group or they have many more subscribers than they are leading people to believe.

        • Rdio

          I highly doubt the level of press they get, activity I see on social networks, the number of twitter followers, facebook app users says they have 5000 subscribers.

          • CanBuyMeLove

            Rdio is spending a boatload of cash to buy the perception that it is bigger than it is. You can buy billboards, buy TV ads and buy followers on Facebook and Twitter. Yet we have never seen them once disclose how many subscribers they have. They aren’t shy about anything else…
            Sadly, this also seems to be working on the press, who should know better, as the company gets far more ink than is merited, considering no one knows what it is outside of the cloistered music/tech industry, and no one seems to be asking the tough questions.

          • hater

            dude/dudette

            what is your beef? sound like you got issues with someone there or a lost invoice. rdio is the shit.

  5. TUNE HUNTER

    Grate job Paul!
    The best conclusions are made when you see the issues from the distance – the big picture on the table!

    So, it took Sirius / XM over 12 years to get to 24.4 million and this makes 60% of all music related subscriptions! Keep in mind that XM by accident came with new cars and new car buyers are usually the cream of the society as far as income goes.

    Chance of all other streamers with 13 to 30 clientele to get to 150 million mark (not counting XM) are very, I repeat, very slim. (if I am wrong they will bring 15 billion/yr to the table)

    Conclusion: to see any real money from music focus has to shift to Discovery Moment Monetization.
    There is no reason to provide music ID or play list suggestions for free.
    Those are sophisticated services and there is no need to be afraid that if they will start to charge (become store fronts) someone will kill them with free – for sure it will not be my Amish customers!
    If such an entity shows up industry sales boys should run and sign them up for greener grass than FREE.

    Last and most important sources of info to steal will be gone.

    Back to 40 billions in 36 months. Lets do it.

  6. MichaelGalbe

    Considering how much media coverage Spotify gets, these numbers are surprising.

  7. Gilbert

    The numbers for Deezer are WRONG. Is is NOT what they are reporting.

  8. R.P.

    Remember Groupon? Yea. Don’t ever believe what they report, believe what you can see physical proof of from a source other than the actual company.
    If RDIO is spending a ton of money to build presence, then it’s either because they are seeking some major buyout, or they want the perception to become the reality. Either way why is anyone surprised that companies falsify their numbers?
    “the more you think you see, the easier it will be to fool you”. – Now You See Me.