Mobile cloud-based music streaming services to become mainstream by 2016, says ABI Research
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“The number of subscribers to mobile music streaming services is expected to approach 5.9 million by the end of this year,” says industry analyst Aapo Markkanen. “ABI Research believes that number will exceed 161 million subscribers in 2016, meaning a compound annual growth rate of nearly 95%. Sometime in 2012 the Asia-Pacific area will become the largest regional market for mobile music streaming.”
The biggest winners from these developments are likely to be consumers, and the vendors and the service providers enabling these new models, such as Rhapsody, Melon and Spotify. Record labels, producers and other middlemen whose businesses have been shaken by content piracy also stand to gain from streaming services as they have an opportunity to monetize a lot of consumption that would otherwise take place outside their revenue base. For musical artists, there are both positives and negatives: it will be more difficult to make a living by selling recorded music, but the barriers to wide product distribution are falling fast.
Retail prices for music-in-the-cloud are expected to show a gradual decline as these services reach mass markets, although according to practice director Neil Strother, “Forecasts of declining prices are based on the assumption that the rights-holders will lower their royalty demands. Record labels and collecting societies should not overplay their hands when it comes to royalty issues. If consumers do not have convenient and affordable legal alternatives, they will simply enjoy their music by other means.”
Visit ABI Research at www.abiresearch.com
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