Music fans press pause on paid streaming due to high monthly costs

As subscription prices rise, consumers find themselves having to give up some platforms. What does it all mean for artists, labels, and the streamers themselves?

by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0

It wasn’t that long ago that music industry pundits were saying that the business would prosper as soon as we hit 100 million paid streaming subscriptions worldwide. We’ve soared way past that number and the industry is indeed in a boom period, but that might not last for long, according to a new study.

The survey from Bango uncovered some startling numbers that may indicate some upcoming difficulties for both record labels and music streaming platforms alike. 

It’s widely known that most music consumers subscribe to more than one music streaming service, but those days may be over. According to the survey, 66% said they could no longer afford all of their streaming subscriptions. 

It’s well known that streaming subscription prices have gone up or are going up soon, but 60% of responders said that they had to cancel a subscription in order to afford the new higher prices.

That’s not all, 39% have said they have downgraded one of their subscriptions to the free ad-funded tier in order to afford the higher prices.

Artificially Low

It turns out that the music business might have been living in sort of a twilight zone the last few years, with subscriber numbers that kept increasing mostly due to the artificially low monthly price of $9.99 per month. Everyone knew that price had to increase in the very least to keep up with inflation, but as that’s happening, subscribers are now forced to make choices that they could put off until now.

Not only that, in most major markets, we’ve reached the saturation point for potential subscribers. In other words, most everyone who’s able to subscribe has done so already. There are still a few developing markets that have room for growth, but the monthly subscription price is also very low to keep it affordable, which means that artists, publishers and labels won’t see nearly as much money as they normally would from a country like the U.S. or Canada.

Bottom line, unless the music industry, along with the streaming platforms, develop some new products, the music streaming business will soon plateau and stagnate. There’s only so much money and attention to go around.

Bobby Owsinski is a producer/engineer, author, blogger, podcaster, and coach. He has authored 24 books on music production, music, the music business, music AI, and social media.