Music consumer survey, Q3 2021 A new generation leans forward

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The 20,000 foot view:  As streaming subscriptions rise and music increasingly competes with other forms of media for consumers’ limited attention spans, lean-back listening activities are taking precedence over those which are lean-forward. But the full picture is far more varied. Consumer behaviour is fragmenting, thus incentivising the music industry to diversify use cases, and the next generation of consumers are showing a higher preference for lean-forward and lean-in experiences than previous generations. The data in this report is taken from MIDiA’s        2021 consumer survey. The countries covered in this report are the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Sweden, Brazil and South Korea.

Key Insights

• The majority        of music consumers spend little time and money on music, while a small minority account for the lion’s share of music revenue and activity
• Streaming services’ user bases vary widely in age and behaviour
• Niche streaming services’ users tend to score higher on lean-forward behaviours
• Lean-back music behaviours are overall more popular than those which are lean-forward, except among        who are seeking control over their music experiences
• Just        of consumers listen to full albums on streaming services
• TikTok and Snapchat WAUs outperform those of other social media platforms for lean-forward and lean-in music behaviours, like creating playlists
• Smartphones dominate music listening among all consumers        penetration) but especially               penetration)
• Radio listening is declining in younger generations, while music streaming is growing, as        of        listen to the radio weekly (compared to half of all consumers) and        stream music every week (compared to        of all consumers)

Companies and brands mentioned in this report :Amazon Prime Music, Apple Music, Deezer, Discord, Facebook, Instagram, Instagram Reels, Justin Bieber, Mixcloud, Napster, NetEase Cloud Music, Snapchat, SoundCloud, Spotify, Tencent Music Entertainment, The Weeknd, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, YouTube, YouTube Shorts