It seems as though a new way to consume music is the way of the future. Last year, digital downloads were down for the first time since the concept was introduced, and now it seems as though the music industry has found the cause: audio streaming.
According to Digital Music News and Nielsen Soundscan, on-demand audio streaming more than doubled in 2013, with an increase of 103 percent. This is good news to brands such as Spotify, Rdio and Deezer, some of the leaders in on-demand streaming for consumers.
Audio streaming was the musical consumption avenue that gained the most last year by a long shot. On-Demand streaming as a whole (including video services like YouTube) also saw an increase, albeit a lesser one of 32 percent. Meanwhile, digital album downloads remained stagnant and single song downloads decreased by 6 percent for the first time in history.
Though the stagnant digital album sales and decrease in singles could be worrisome for record labels, another new study gives them hopes for profits. As Music Times reported earlier, for some record companies, a user who streams all their music can be worth more money than someone who purchases an album. It also helps to ward off music piracy.
On-Demand streaming works for consumers, too. Spotify, for example, charges $10 a month for a premium subscription, which includes unlimited streaming on computers and mobile devices. That's roughly the cost of one physical or digital album per month, but with millions of songs at one's fingertips.
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