Global label streaming revenues increased by 6.2% in 2024, according MIDiA Research’s latest Music subscriber market shares Q4 2024 report.
The report stated that it signals a long-anticipated slowdown in the global streaming economy.
IFPI reported a slowing of recorded music revenue growth in its global report this month.
However, music subscriber numbers increased by 11.6% year-on-year according to MIDiA, which added 84.8 million to reach 818.3m – close to double the revenue growth rate.
The disparity is explained by the fact that much of this growth was powered by emerging markets: 78.4% of new subscribers came from outside North America and Europe. In comparison, those mature markets now account for just 41.0% of global subscribers – down from 52.3% in 2020 and 62.0% in 2015.
With subscriber growth driven by emerging markets where prices are often significantly lower reflecting local economic conditions, average revenue per user (ARPU) is declining as a result.
But MIDiA also identified ARPU decline in the US – the biggest streaming market by revenue – where even a $1 price increase could not prevent a one percentage point decline in real terms ARPU due to higher inflation.
As a result the industry focus will be on boosting revenue from streaming platforms, including premium services set at a higher price point. Spotify’s HD audio version has long been coming, while labels are exploring new tiers as they aim to better serve superfans.
“Supremium clearly cannot come soon enough but factors such as multiuser account growth and extensive use of free trials is undoing much of the work of price increases and supremium’s impact is going to be shaped by the same headwinds,” stated the report. “All that said, this is a quality problem for the music industry to have. If all that the industry had was pricing and packaging to drive growth, it would be in trouble. Instead, it has a rapidly growing global subscriber base that is fast approaching the one billion mark. The music subscriber market is in good health, now monetisation needs to catch up.”
UK market remains competitive
The UK is the sixth largest music subscriber market globally, although it was overtaken by Brazil in 2024, according MIDiA’s report. At 47.7% it is the fourth most highly penetrated market
Given the high penetration of DSPs, subscriber growth in the UK has been slowing steadily every year since 2018, adding just 1.2m subscribers in 2024. But growth remains strong enough to likely push the UK over the 50% penetration mark in 2025,
Spotify leads the market with 15.3m subscribers – but with that giving it 47.1% penetration, the UK remains a competitive market
Amazon Music (8.7m) and Apple Music (6.2m) account for 45.9% of the market between them. YouTube Music is growing the fastest of all DSPs in the UK (19.8% year-on-year), increasing market share from 4.5% in 2023 to 5.2% in 2024, at the expense of Amazon and Apple.
Spotify leads globally
Spotify leads the, adding more subscribers than any other DSP – and more than Tencent Music Entertainment, Apple Music and Amazon Music combined, which rank second, third, and fourth respectively in overall size. Spotify held its global market share at 32.2% and claimed 32.4% of all net additions.
Tencent Music Entertainment retained second place despite operating only in China. Apple Music and Amazon Music each lost close to a percentage point of market share, adding fewer subscribers in 2024 than in 2023.
Among the globally available platforms, YouTube Music was the only major DSP to accelerate subscriber growth year-on-year.
China extended its lead as the world’s largest music subscriber market, with 190.0m. In 2023, it overtook the US by 12m subscribers; by the end of 2024, that lead had grown to 30.3m.
The US, by contrast, has not added more than 20m subscribers in a single year since 2018. Meanwhile, the US is showing signs of saturation, with growth falling below 2023 levels.
During the IFPI Global Music Report launch event, Dennis Kooker, president, global digital business, Sony Music Entertainment, noted that there are increasingly mature markets following strong growth in previous years.
“Part of the slowdown is because we've been incredibly successful converting consumers into the paid model,” he said.
India also continued its rise, reaching a record 18.9m subscribers. With a market penetration of just 1.3%, India represents one of the largest untapped growth opportunities in the global streaming market.
“Although label streaming revenues are slowing, the global music subscriber market continues to grow at pace, adding nearly the same number of subscribers as in 2023,” said Mark Mulligan, managing director and senior music industry analyst. “The continued fast rise of the Global South is the market-defining dynamic, pointing to a rebalancing of the global music industry. Revenues still skew heavily to the West but user growth is now consistently coming from elsewhere.”
MIDiA Research compiles its subscriber market shares by collating country level, DSP level data from industry partners, combining them with reported company figures and proprietary MIDiA data.
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