Cord cutters have championed the subscription streaming model, but password sharing is rampant among subscribers. Apple Music is the subscription music service most likely to be shared.
By the end of 2018, there are an estimated 33 million “cord cutting” adults in the United States. That’s a 33% increase over 2017, which proves subscription streaming is the future of media delivery.
Subscription services and their reliable income streams are increasingly popular with companies, too. But communal accounts and password sharing cuts down on the revenue these companies would receive from individual subscribers.
But how many people are likely to share their password to a streaming account? That depends on the service.
Out of the 1,000 people surveyed, this report found that password sharing and communal accounts are pretty common. The report discovered that password sharing was most common among video services, but sports fans were most willing to share.
On the music streaming side of things, only 17.4% of survey respondents were Apple Music subscribers. 31.4% (nearly 1 in 3) of Apple Music users said they would or have shared their password. That compares to 22.2% (more than 1 in 5) of Spotify users and 13.5% (fewer than 1 in 7) of Pandora users.
Apple Music is a paid-only music subscription service, likely leading to higher sharing rates. Spotify and Pandora’s free option caters to those who may otherwise piggy-back from a friend or relative.
Sharing your streaming password is actually a federal crime, but that hasn’t stopped most people from doing it.
The report also found that most people saw no harm in sharing passwords of subscription services. When asked why they shared, 62.3% of respondents said it was a “kind gesture.” 38.8% of those who responded said their friend offered to share a different service.
Of the four generations surveyed, 27% of Gen Zers identified streaming services as critical for gaining access to music. That’s more than any other generation surveyed.
Streaming TV was more common among millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers.
Surely there is a technological way to enforce the laws against password-sharing. Why don’t these tech companies do more?