STREAM FLOW

With the 65th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles tonight, here’s a look at how we get our music these days:

Who are the streamers?

Spotify’s annual Culture Next Trends Report in 2022 said 18-24 year-olds played more than 578 billion minutes of music on its app. “16 billion more minutes than Millennials,” the report said. Other statistics on Gen Z: 68% of them like listening to and watching media from early decades; 67% use podcasts and music to cope with stress and anxiety and 59% believe “life was better before social media,” the report said. YouTube has its own Culture & Trends report on Gen Z, both as YouTubers and viewers. Among its findings: 85% of Gen Z have posted video content online and 65% are more interested in content “that’s personally relevant to them” rather than simply “the content that lots of other people talk about,” the report said. Types of stream services Paid subscriptions: Advertising drives free users toward monthly subscription packages, which are typically between $10 and $15 a month. Advertising: Advertisers pay for exposure, with ads played every 15 minutes for 30 seconds. They also can include sponsored playlists and homepage takeovers.

Spotify

With 350 million active users, and revenues of almost $6 billion in 2018, Spotify is the global leader in music streaming. The company’s 150 million paid subscriptions account for 91% of the company’s revenue. The other 9% comes from advertising. Spotify has the most paid users but YouTube has 2.5 billion users.

The downside

Many industry critics argue that music is no longer about creating something for pure enjoyment, but rather about using a formulaic approach in the hands of tech giants to make more money.

Showing the money

According to Trichordist.com, a site that is against artist exploitation, Spotify is paying about $3,300–$3,500 per million plays. The site also says YouTube’s Content ID shows a whopping 51% of all streams generate only 6.4% of revenue. This is the value gap. More than 50% of all music streams generate less than 7% of revenue. Here’s what artists receive per stream, according to Trichordist.com’s 2019 data, in order of market share by revenue: