With smartphones, smart/Bluetooth speakers, laptops and so on as well as music streaming services, the digitization of music has led to significant alterations in our consumption.
The rise of technology and subsequent evolution of streaming services such as Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music has led to global, revolutionary changes in how and when we consume our music. At any time, we have instantaneous access to millions of songs at our disposal and it has led to a steep increase in the amount of music we consume, and the way in which we consume it. Whether this has impacted the quality of the industry is another question entirely, but what we do know is that regardless, it has changed how music is consumed by the everyday person. With people of all ages constantly signing up for these services, music is no doubt set to continue its current trajectory.
This article by Forbes looks into what is so attractive about streaming services for consuming music, particularly among the youth/millennials.
This bar graph represents the growth in paid premium subscribers on Spotify from 2018 to 2019. Source: https://www.ifpi.org/downloads/Music-Listening-2019.pdf
The biggest factor for this growing change, particularly in the last decade, has been the introduction of smartphones. With a device that is almost always on our person, there is ready access to music services at all times at the click of a button. Rather than relying solely on physical copies at home (vinyl, record players, 8 tracks etc.) and the radio, we have an almost unbelievably enormous catalogue of music at our disposal, anytime. As of 2020, Spotify has over 50 million tracks to choose from. Of course, this leaves the argument of the ‘paradox of choice’, in which this extraordinary variety has actually led us to dissatisfaction and a lower appreciation or gratitude for the content itself. This TED Talk by Barry Schwartz discusses this idea in depth, and as such this idea is highly applicable to music considering it is one of the biggest forms of entertainment in the world.
How we consume our music, or through what device, has a huge impact on when or where we are inclined to indulge.
This pie chart outlines how we are most inclined to consume music according to a recent global study on various licensed and unlicensed services in May of 2019 by IFPI. Source: https://www.ifpi.org/downloads/Music-Listening-2019.pdf
As seen in the pie graph, radio is still highly prevalent despite the immersion into digital, streaming platforms. Local Bathurst teenager Alec Bradford often relies on such when driving to and from work.
With no sign of slowing down anytime soon, streaming services are set to remain the norm when it comes to music consumption. An attempt to revert back to cassettes, vinyl would be futile and while radio is still indulged in by many it is seen as a dying industry by others. Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Soundcloud and so on have ushered in a new wave of digital consumption that began with iPods and has peaked with smartphones, so the question is, what is next? Where this leaves the music industry as a whole in future is yet to be seen, but it is sure to be exciting either way.
By David French