IFPI has published “Engaging with Music 2021”, a study of 43,000 people around the world and how they engage with music. Report highlights include:

• fans make their own listening choices thanks to streaming: the main reasons fans gave for their engagement with streaming were being able to choose their favourite songs, artists, and their own playlists; 68% searched for specific songs and 62% listened to playlists they created more than once a week;
• fans are enjoying a rich and diverse mix of genres: in addition to well-known, popular genres, well over 300 different genres were named by at least one person in the 43,000-person study as music they typically listen to, including gqom, axé, and hokkien song;
• engagement is fuelled by music-driving innovations such as short-form video, livestreaming, and in-game experiences: 68% of time spent on short-form video apps involved music-dependent videos such as lip syncing and dance challenges; one in three (29%) said they had watched a music livestream, such as a concert, in the last 12 months;
• time spent listening to music has increased globally: fans are enjoying more music today than ever before, on average spending 18.4 hours a week listening to music (up from 18 hours in 2019), which is the equivalent of listening to 368 three-minute tracks;
• streaming, particularly subscription audio streaming, continues to grow: time spent listening to music through subscription audio streaming grew 51%, as music fans continue to embrace streaming for the access and autonomy it provides;
• music makes a powerful contribution to wellbeing, providing comfort and healing to many, especially younger people, in challenging times: 87% said that music provided enjoyment and happiness during the pandemic; 68% of 16 to19 year-olds said new releases from their favourite artists helped them during the pandemic;
• music is central to what people enjoy about listening to the radio: 74% listen to the radio mainly for the music and 73% tune in to their favourite radio station because of the music it plays; and
• the availability of unlicensed music remains an issue for the music ecosystem and the threat continues to evolve: almost one in three (29%) of people had used illegal or unlicensed methods to listen to or download music and 14.4% had used unlicensed social media platforms for music purposes.

To read IFPI’s press release in full and for a link to the full report, click here.