Engagement and Spending Breaks Modern Records
It’s the “time of the season” when numbers run high- with apologies to the Zombies for the song reference. National lobbying organizations and various researchers are publishing year-end 2024 music industry numbers. We thought we’d add a few more, focused on the music fan.
Yes, growth in subscriptions is slowing, but the paying population broke records in 2024. Consumer recorded music spending was up a solid 10 percent including all formats, and live expenditures rose dramatically. Perhaps surprising to some, legacy formats are still getting a lot of listening.
132 million Americans pay for music subscriptions. These numbers include on-demand subscriptions as well as to satellite radio and for-fee internet radio services. That means 50 percent aged 13-70 are paying for a subscription that primarily features music programming.
Consumer spending on recorded music hit a digital era high, growing 10% on a per capita basis. In 2024 more than half of Americans aged 13-70 purchased a CD, download, vinyl, or an on-demand or non-interactive subscription (not including satellite radio). Americans spent $112 per capita on recorded music, up from $102 in 2023. Spending on livestreams grew 27% to $4.95 per capita. Compare that to 2014, the worst year for recorded music in the post-Napster era. In 2014 only one-third of Americans purchased recorded music. Per capita expenditures in 2014 fell to around $80.
Live and merch drove consumer spending increases. There is lots of conversation about an industry slowdown, but don’t tell that to the live music fan. Per capita spend on live hit $281.08, up 17% from 2023. Yes, some of that may be ticket inflation however the percentage of population buying tickets rose to 56 percent in 2024, from 51 percent year-ago. There’s been real growth in ticket buyers. Spending on music related merch grew a whopping 45 percent.
19 million bought a new vinyl record. Yes, the number of vinyl buyers continues to grow, but vinyl is only purchased by 1 in 14 Americans (7 percent). A cocktail party statistic-more of us pay for audiobooks these days than for records.
Naughty behavior continues. Yes, Americans are spending and streaming at record rates. But some are also misbehaving. Fourteen million admitted to streamripping music files during 2024. Music piracy isn’t the scourge it was 20 years ago, but it’s still happening. Speaking of, as the poster child for piracy,Napster, gets sold to be rejuvenated as a metaverse play, only 6% of GenZ are aware of the brand name as a streaming service. Not surprisingly, awareness of Napster jumps among GenX and Boomer.
Legacy formats get listens too. Yes, we live in a streaming world. Yes, some buy music “consumables” as merch to support their artists. But legacy formats get a lot of listening too. Fifty-six (56) million Americans listen to CDs in their cars. Forty-eight (48) million listen to digital downloads. Both audiences are in decline, but nevertheless they represent a massive pool of listeners. And while CD listening in the car skews to GenX and especially Boomers, one out of four GenZ’er listened to a digital music file that they own.
Ten years ago we marked the beginning of the turnaround in consumer sentiment around spending on music, after years of piracy and a singles strategy that didn’t live up to its potential. One stat about says it all- there are nearly 50 million more music buyers in the US than there were a decade ago.