Spotify still leads the music streaming market but the company’s market share declined in the last quarter of 2021.
Music streaming platforms are becoming increasingly popular across the world. The latest report from MIDiA shows that 523.9 million people around the world subscribed to a music streaming service in Q2 of 2021.
Spotify has been the most popular music streaming platform in Q2 2021
Though Spotify remains the most-subscribed streaming service, owning 31% of the market, its dominance is very slowly decreasing — it held 33% of the market in 2020, and 34% in 2019.
Spotify covers 31% of the music streaming market according to the study. Despite being the most-subscribed streaming service, Spotify’s dominance is gradually slipping — in 2020, the platform had 33% of the market and 34% in 2019.
Although Spotify has increased more total subscribers than its competitors in the year leading up to Q2 2021, Amazon Music has grown by 25% while Spotify has expanded by 20%. Meanwhile, Google’s YouTube Music experienced year-over-year growth of over 50% through the second quarter of 2021. The Chinese gaming company Tencent, which runs Tencent Music, has the same market share as Amazon Music.
Amazon Music and Apple Music’s market share is probably going to rise — because the data in this study ends in Q2 2021, it won’t show the influence of lossless audio streaming for both Amazon and Apple starting in May.
Of course, we have to mention Tidal, which has always targeted audiophiles who want a higher-quality audio experience. According to MIDiA’s study, Tidal’s lossless audio tier costs $9.99 per month yet it owns less than 2% of the global market share.
Tidal is a streaming service that claims to provide high-quality music sharing. Founded by Jay-Z, the company later has been acquired by Block (formerly called Square). Tidal has made available a new fan-centric HiFi Plus pack ($19.99/month), which means that 10% of a user’s subscription will be given to their favorite musicians.
How to see liked songs on Spotify?
Will this strategy help Tidal obtain new subscribers who want to support their favorite artists? We’ll see.
