Some of the world’s biggest record labels expressed bewilderment at a Nordic survey finding that paying subscribers to Swedish music services are falling.
Last week, MBW reported yugev During the investigation with the Scandinavian Collection Association May 2024,in 4,000 Tests were conducted on individuals across the Nordic region.
These interview suggestions downturn Number of people paying for music streaming in Sweden.
Among Swedish respondents to the YouGov poll, 56% Indicates they are a premium subscriber to a music subscription service, below59% in mid term2022.
Meanwhile, the same 2024 survey also shows that Swedes are growing faster Economically sensitive The rise in music streaming subscription prices.
However, according to leading companies in the industry, these results Global recorded music businessshould be viewed as a survey-specific deviation rather than an indicator of a broader trend.
MBW We saw internal data from global recorded music companies (informed through data provided by their streaming partners) showing Paid account holders of audio music streaming subscriptions As of May this year, Sweden had approximately2.87 million.
The number reflects subscribers by region by the end of 2022 (December) Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Deezer and SoundCloud – stand around 2.8 million. (These numbers do not include free trial users.)
“We don’t see explosive growth in Sweden these days, but we see stability.”
record label executive
As one record company executive said MBW In providing these figures: “No, we’re not seeing explosive growth. Sweden These days, though, we’re seeing stability. Although prices have increased, the overall trend in the past two years has been a slight increase.
Another record company executive put it simply: “ yugev The data is inconsistent with our own data.
Other internal label data we’ve seen reflects the total number of paid streaming accounts in Sweden, i.e. it includes users family planning etc., they don’t pay for the subscription but use the service.
Again, this data was obtained through our sources Directly from the streaming provider in the market.
This shows that there is 5.06 millionTotal number of paid account users in Sweden as of May 2024; that’s from 4.52 million June 2022.
Record company executives we spoke to declined to comment on the record because, as mentioned, it Streaming data from Sweden have been provided to them – based on confidentiality conditions – Provided by digital partners.
However, our source’s data does appear to be consistent with other available evidence.
MBW contacted industry standard Market Monitor bright Find out their reaction to the YouGov survey today (July 2).
bright The service’s subscriber numbers are not publicly disclosed, but it does keep a close eye on Total traffic for paid and ad-supported accounts in multiple markets around the world.
Photo credit: Maarten de Boer
“Looking ahead to the first half of 2024, our data shows that the number of premium on-demand streams (i.e. streams from paid subscriptions) in Sweden will grow by more than 700 million Compared with the first half of 2023, or +4.3% [YoY]“.
Rob Jonas, “Luminate”
Rob JonasLuminate CEO revealed: “Looking ahead to the first half of 2024, our data shows that the number of premium on-demand streams (i.e. streams from paid subscriptions) in Sweden will grow by more than 700 million Compared with the first half of 2023, or +4.3% [YoY]“.
Jonas Adding: “On average, paid streaming consists of 86% on-demand streaming events Sweden Ad-supported activity represents remaining activity in the first half of 2024 14%.
“That [premium vs. ad-supported] Share breakdown remains consistent with 2023 data.
What else is there MBW From the confidential service level data we saw Sweden These two days?
Spotify Has by far the largest number of subscribers of any service in Sweden, with a market share of approx. 88%.
This is a big deal: Our sources agree that Sweden is a global country Industrial market leader When it comes to cancellation rates – or “churn” rate – Paid music streaming subscribers.
Based on the data we’ve seen, Spotify’s Premium churn rate Sweden sit around 1.0% All subscribers. For example, this is consistent with approx. 2.0% In the U.S.
(Customer churn rates for these two countries were between Spotify Sweden and the United States both raised prices last year, but have since fallen back to ~1.0% In Sweden and~2.0% In the United States, according to our sources.
So, given all this, why Yugof’s The data seems to show a significant drop in the number of respondents using paid music services in Sweden in 2024 compared to 2022?
As we pointed out in our original article, this may be a sample size issue: remember, the purpose of a YouGov survey is 4,000 Nordic people, only some of whom are in Sweden─a people with more than Ten million people.
There may be another explanation.
The YouGov survey specifically collected data on music streaming users in: Sweden Who is a “Premium Subscriber” [or] bundler’.
A record company insider said that over the past 12-18 months, Spotify has aggressively cracked down on account sharing in its family plans, where accounts are shared among non-relatives who do not live at the same address.
Within YouGov’s sample size, this may have resulted in a small decrease in the number of premium accounts user exist Sweden.
Wider market evidence points to a more positive trend, though: As MBW wrote the other day , IFPI data shows that industry-wide recorded music subscription streaming revenue in Sweden actually grew by more than 6% Year by year 2023.
(Sweden Last year, the United States was the world’s 16th largest recorded music market in terms of revenue, according to IFPI.
Spotify raised its monthly revenue in 2021, two years before it did the same in the U.S. individual premium Swedish prices 10%from 99 SEK (About $9.99) arrive 109 SEK (About $10.99).
Last year, Sweden raised prices again.
Today, Swedish customers choose Personal Premium Subscription Offers a one-month free trial with no ads Spotify. Thereafter, they must pay 119 Swedish krona (approx. $11.21) per month.global music business
