Our favorite device to listen to music?: the 'smartphone'
Do we listen to more or less music than before? Is it true that we buy more vinyl than ever... or does it just seem so? Are CDs definitely dead? Are there still people who download music illegally? The Music Listening 2019 report, prepared by the IFPI, the organization that promotes the interests of the recording industry internationally, answers all these questions.
The institution has asked 34,000 people from 21 countries such as Argentina, Canada, USA, Sweden, Spain and South Africa, which together account for a total of 92.6% of the global record market. The result? That we like music more than ever , so much so that 54% of listeners consider themselves a fan of it.
Although perhaps that could be said of all of us, because, on average, we spend 18 hours a week listening to it, 20 minutes more than in 2018. In other words, we enjoy music for just over two and a half hours a day, and almost we always do it through streaming services. Yes, your mother hears it that way too; in fact, the age group in which this consumption has grown the most is the one that ranges from 35 to 64 years.
There is, however, a redoubt that still prefers illegal download , and that amounts to 23% of listeners (paradoxically, the most used medium among those between 16 and 24 years old if we compare by age groups, which is, at the same time, the one that pays the most to listen to music) .
We like music more than ever
Of course, if they could not access their favorite songs in this way, 62% confess that they would also switch to streaming: paid, as in the case of subscriptions to Spotify, or free, as when we put videos on YouTube just to listen to them. . In this regard, it should be noted that 77% of streaming users used the audiovisual platform for this purpose. And that most of the people who pay to listen to music are, as we pointed out before, the youngest (up to 52% of listeners between 16 and 24 years old).
WHERE DO WE LISTEN TO MUSIC?
Does anyone remember the mini-systems that reigned in the middle of the room? Today they are a thing of the past: 27% of global music users prefer to listen to it on their smartphone ; 4%, on iPads and the like; 19%, on the computer; 29%, on the radio and only 8% from a music system, among which, of course, turntables are counted. Smart speakers are still not as widely used for this task, since their use is around 3%.
The car, however, continues to reign as the place where we most like to sing out loud: 70% listen to music while traveling in it, while another 64% like to listen to it at home while relaxing and a 51%, while cooking or cleaning.
The genres we prefer? Pop, rock, oldies -always classics-, hip-hop and rap, electronic, indie, K-Pop, metal, R&B and classical music They make up, in that order, the top ten. As we already mentioned, urban styles are climbing the ranks, pushed by younger users: those between 16 and 24 years old are four times more likely to choose this genre than any other age group.
The stereo is a thing of the past
Within this range, by country, those who prefer it above all are **South Africans (27%), Russians (23%), Poles (24%) and Germans (21%) **. Furthermore, in France, 26% say they love this genre, but yes: sung in their mother tongue. In fact, music created by local artists is held in special esteem in the country - 57% prefer pop and rock in French and 65% adore French chanson.
He is not the only one who prefers home-made: in South Korea, of course, K-Pop rules (69% like it), and also K-Trot, the oldest form of Korean pop music (he likes it). 25% like it). In Poland, on the other hand, 33% love Disco Polo, typical of the country, and 18%, sung poetry, something also quite local. In the Netherlands, almost half prefer to hear music sung in their language, and for 16%, even better if it is hip hop or rap.
WHO BUYS MORE MUSIC?
Without a doubt, and by far the Koreans : when asked: "Have you bought any music in the last month, be it CDs, vinyl or downloads?", up to 44% answered affirmatively. In Spain only 18% did so, while in the United States, the second largest buyer globally, this percentage rose to 34%, followed by the United Kingdom (30%) and Australia (27%).
What was bought the most was streaming music, especially among the aforementioned sector between 16 and 24 years old. The next most demanded were CDs and DVDs (especially between 35 and 54 years old). The least purchased, as much as fashion seems to deny it, were vinyl : just over 5% declared having acquired one in the last month, although the percentage remained practically the same among all ages, with a peak between 25 and 34 years of age.