UK music consumption driven by young streamers according to an analysis of data in IFPI’s Music Listening Report 2019 by the BPI, the UK record labels association. The BPI reports that ‘the UK’s love of music is being deepened by the growth in streaming combined with continuing access to music on physical format.’
Data from IFPI’s 2019 “Music Listening Report” shows that the UK is a nation of music lovers, with 57% of UK respondents saying they love or are ‘fanatical’ about music. This compares with a global average of 54%, with the UK ranked 4th overall in the world on this key question. The love of music is especially strong among British 16-24 year olds, with well over two thirds (70%) saying they love music or are ‘fanatical’ about it (vs 63% global average).
Engagement with audio streaming services is growing across every age group, but is fastest among 25-34 year olds, although strong growth is also evident among older age groups too. By age group, 16-24 year olds are the most engaged (though growth is not as strong).
Streaming is driving engagement with music
Around 60% of UK respondents have used an audio streaming service in the past month up strongly from just over half (52%) in 2018. Younger consumers in the UK (aged 16-24) are particularly engaged, with 88% (up from 84% in 2018) having used an audio streaming service compared with 83% in the rest of the world. Growth is fastest among the 25-34 year olds (from 65% to 75%), although there is good growth among all older streaming groups also. Growth is actually slowest among the 16-24 year olds.
These streaming services are part of young peoples’ daily routines. 69% of 16-24 year olds used one in the past day (compared to a global average of 63%)
Physical formats are still popular
Despite the convenience of streaming, UK consumers still like to buy and own some of their music, with streaming and physical enjoying a complementary relationship. The UK ranks higher than the global average for every age group in terms of CD and LP purchasing. Nearly a third (30%) of British consumers buy music on an at-least monthly basis (compared to a 26% global average).
UK music fans still listen to the radio
Music fans in the UK listen to 17 hours of music a week with radio listening still a significant means of access. Four in 10 of us (41%) engage with radio via our smartphones and almost a third (32%) of Britons’ music listening takes place on radio (higher than the global average of 29%).
Smartphones and smart speaker usage is growing
Smartphones claim the second biggest share of consumer listening at nearly a quarter (23%), although this is lower than the global average (27%) boosted by high smart-phone engagement in countries such as China, India and in Latin America.
The increasing popularity in the UK of smart speakers such as Amazon’s ‘Alexa’ and Google ‘Home’ player means that as a nation our smart speaker usage at 6% of our listening is double the 3% global average. 30% of UK music consumers claim to have used a smart speaker to listen to music in the past three months compared to just a fifth (20%) of global respondents. This high level of engagement means that the UK ranks just behind the US in its access to music via smart speakers.
UK still listens to music on traditional HiFi
Nearly a tenth (9%) of our music listening takes place on Hi-Fis and record turntables which compares with 8% across countries surveyed by the IFPI and reflects the continuing appeal of physical formats such as vinyl LPs and CD.
Grime is surprisingly popular music genre
Pop remains the UK’s favourite music genre, with nearly two thirds (64%) of British consumers saying that they listen to it (compared to just 60% among global respondents). Rock weighs in at 54.4% among the Brits surveyed (vs 52% globally), while well over a third (34%) love indie/alternative – double the global average of 18% and the highest proportion of the 20-plus countries surveyed by the IFPI.
Grime/garage is surprisingly popular with over a tenth (11%) of UK respondents saying they had listened to it, compared to just 3% globally underlining how grime is a particularly British cultural phenomenon.
The UK was particularly well represented in many of the genres. Soul/blues was only bigger in South Africa and New Zealand and the UK was joint top with Australia on punk and, fascinatingly, only South Africa is bigger than the UK when it comes to Afrobeats.
