Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - Americans listened to 12.5% more songs in 2017 than they did in 2016.
According to an annual report on music by Nielsen, an information, data and measurement company, the growth is because of music streaming services such as Apple Music and Joox.
The number of songs listened to on music streaming services grew to 400.4 billion last year – a 58.7% rise – and 54% of all music being listened to was on music streaming services.
Physical albums comprised 21%, digital albums were 13% and individual songs made up 11% of the market.
The sale of digital albums declined by 19.6% and that of physical albums declined by 16.5%.
The purchase of individual songs also shrunk by 23.4%.
Oddly, record sales increased by 9% and cassette sales increased by 35%. Cassettes are, however, a small part of the total market, with just 174 000 sold.
Music concerts also remain popular. Half of the US population attend at least one event a year to listen to live music.
More than half of the money spent on music was at these events.
Last year, 18% of the US population went to a music festival, 18% went to a club with a DJ and 33% went to concerts.
