Featured photo: https://gizmodo.com/streaming-music-services-from-most-screwed-to-least-sc-1793612699
DISCLOSURE: The author, Ellen Parker, has commercial partnerships with the brands mentioned and linked to in this post. See disclaimerfor more information.
Ahh, music, is there something better? Can something top finally listening to a long-awaited album from your favorite artist? You’ve waited months, sometimes even years (I’m looking at you, Eminem), and it’s finally time to get your musical fix.
Whatever your routine — maybe you go on a long drive, maybe you nestle in bed with some noise-canceling headphones, or maybe you and your closest friends get together for a nice listening sesh — there’s nothing better than listening to music that makes you move. Yup, that’s what I call bliss.
2017 Has Been a Big Year for Music
In the musical realm, 2017 has been monumental. As many highs as we’ve felt so far, there have also been some pretty low lows. Musical icons like Tom Petty, Malcolm Young, Chris Cornell, Chester Bennington, and Walter Becker, among many others, have sadly passed away.
They may not be here, but their music lives on. On a positive note, we’ve also had tons of new music, some of which seems to break every record it encounters, like Taylor Swift’s Reputation that outsold every other album on the Billboard 200… combined. We also have Cardi B’s Bodak Yellow, which became an instant hit, and a personal favorite, Revival, Eminem’s long-awaited album that’s set to drop sometime very soon (fingers crossed).
As wonderful as an article completely devoted to new music would be, our discussion today deals with something that’s spurring our consumption of it to new heights: streaming.
Music Consumption Is at an All-Time High
With audio consumption reaching all-time highs, on-demand streaming is growing more than ever. When total audio consumption increased 8.9% from last year, from 216.3M to 235.5M, audio streaming increased by a whopping 62.4%, from 113.5B to 184.3B. Yeah, that much.
Image Source: https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2017/us-music-mid-year-report-2017/
Considering how old music is, streaming isn’t even an infant; it’s a single-celled organism — albeit a highly advanced organism. What’s most interesting is how much streaming has and is changing music. For one, it’s completely revolutionizing how we consume music. Whereas
e used to be constrained to listening to albums one at a time, music streaming devices give us the option of sampling something here, something there, and finding music that we otherwise would have never even heard of.
Related: Americans still have more Love for TVs than Computers
The Fuel Behind the Streaming Explosion
The average American spends over 32 hours per week listening to music, up 5.5 hours from last year and 7.6 from the year before. Why? Because we can virtually listen to music anywhere, anytime. Whether we’re driving to the mall, commuting to work, going on a run, or taking a nice stroll through the park, we always have music streaming devices at our disposal.
When we’re on the go, smartphones are our go-to option. In fact, about 43.5% of people choose their phones as their music listening device in a typical week.
And why shouldn’t they? Smartphones are small and light, fit in our pockets, and are extremely portable — all that’s required is a pair of headphones or earphones and we’re set to go.
Image Source: https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2017/time-with-tunes-how-technology-is-driving-music-consumption/
Apart from our handy smartphones, we also have other options, especially when we’re in the comfort of our own homes. Many brands like HEOS by Denon are producing audio systems that can stream from favorites like Spotify, Tidal, iHeartRadio and more, meaning that we can sit back in our living room, pull down the shades, and enjoy music as we wind down and relax.
Music and Streaming: A Match Made in Musical Heaven
With so many music streaming devices at our fingertips, streaming doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
Wherever we are, we can listen to our favorite artists, brand new ones we’ve never heard of but love to hear, and of course, the ones with that one song we can’t get out of our heads. In other words, music and streaming are a match made in musical heaven.