Top 10 Streaming Music Services By Number Of Users

[GregC]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmc...e ... e4ebf35178

From May, 2018. Not exactly current, but the scale and ranking is useful, IMO

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Streaming owns the music industry, and now that the format has established itself as the current savior and future of the business,
many competitors in the space
are focused on signing up as many users as possible. Profitability is tough to come by, but the more paying customers
(or at least the more people willing to listen to ads), the better, and these companies have been able to collect more listeners than
all the other options out there.

Here are the 10 most popular streaming music services in the world, based on the number of users they all have.
This post will be updated as frequently as is possible when new figures are confirmed.

YouTube - 1.5 billion

YouTube is far and away the most popular option in the world ... { snip, go to link}

[GregC]

I am also on Sound Cloud. one of 175 million .

True, of the 175M, its mostly freeby listeners, or folks who recorded 10 tracks, give or take.

I wouldn't have guessed that 175M figure, my guess is 5 or 10 million.

Just the same, thats a lot of listeners.

I also think its +90% hip hoppers, rappers, DJ's. My take is from being on it for 2 years and pushing
around music.

SC is a German co. What I like is that it seems to be Euro centric.

While we have a great population
here in the US, there is a large % of Euro listeners and also Asia.

I am going by my stats in making these general statements.

The SC site is good to work with. I suspect there is a certain amount
of bogus accounts fooling around on the site. it can be ignored and
avoided, IMO.

[ChrisDuncan]

Streaming owns the music industry, and now that the format has established itself as the current savior and future of the business...

Streaming is the savior of streaming companies.

From what I've seen in terms of royalties that the actual musicians get paid, it's not a religion I'd care to join.

[GregC]

Streaming owns the music industry, and now that the format has established itself as the current savior and future of the business...

Streaming is the savior of streaming companies.

From what I've seen in terms of royalties that the actual musicians get paid, it's not a religion I'd care to join.

The digital media boom has taken most of the business control away from the artist.
Tons of product, free, etc etc. doesn't help, either.

Established artists get a fraction of a penny.

From an interview with Paula Cole:
"The music business is so labyrinthian and complicated and it’s precisely that way so that artists can be taken advantage of!"

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/paula-co ... 6aac8df856

Thats just 1 example.

BTW, SoundCloud , #3 in listener volume is just hanging on;
SoundCloud - 175 million

"The Berlin-based streaming giant is ahead of other options in the growing field in some ways, though it always seems to be on the brink of real trouble."

[ChrisDuncan]

From an interview with Paula Cole:
"The music business is so labyrinthian and complicated and it’s precisely that way so that artists can be taken advantage of!"

And of course, that's nothing new.

I remember back in ancient times (i.e. before streaming) looking at the ASCAP & BMI sites trying to find a straight answer to the question of exactly what gets paid, how, and when.

Labyrinthian is a gentle understatement.

[GregC]

From an interview with Paula Cole:
"The music business is so labyrinthian and complicated and it’s precisely that way so that artists can be taken advantage of!"

And of course, that's nothing new.

I remember back in ancient times (i.e. before streaming) looking at the ASCAP & BMI sites trying to find a straight answer to the question of exactly what gets paid, how, and when.

Labyrinthian is a gentle understatement.

definitely.

Looks like the artist has to have total control of 'master tapes' .

Of course, the artist has to be successful for 10 or more years to build a catalog worth selling, and worth controlling.

The other winner in this mess, is the consumer. Music is virtually free on YouTube if you don't mind a few invasive ads and mediocre audio quality.

For example, I purchased 1 of Steven Wilson's albums. Over 1 hour long.

$9.99

The artist is not running to the bank.