Access Versus Ownership: Stream-loving Fans Have The Control.

The world of streaming is growing beneath the twiddling of our thumbs and the swipe of our fingers.

On 26th November, The Weeknd released his latest album “Starboy” breaking Justin Bieber’s record; most album streams in a day. Bieber’s album “Purpose”, released in November 2015 had 36 million Spotify steams on its release, which The Weeknd has now surpassed. A day on, “Starboy” hadn’t hit number one on the UK iTunes chart.

Fans campaign with hashtags across social media to make their idol’s album chart topping within minutes, but they are now turning to “most streamed” instead. It’s a new time for the music industry, but is streaming enough to keep it alive?

Napster was the first online service, established in 2001 but since 2006 Spotify became the world’s music steaming giant. It currently has 100 million users, who can pay from £5 to £15 for unlimited music; the general price of an extended play or album.

According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), 2015 became the year of primary digital downloads with 45% of revenue accounting to digital sales alone, whilst physical sales were 39%. IFPI states, “streaming remains the industry’s fastest-growing revenue source”.

The current shift to streaming services has led the music industry to loose billions. As reported in the New York Times, in 2010 it made $10 billion in revenue but 5 years later this has dropped to just over $7 billion.

In America, subscription streaming increased by 52% between 2014 and 2015 as reported by the Recording Industry of America, whilst downloaded singles and albums have decreased by 13% and 5% respectively. The amount of people paying a subscription fee has considerably risen to 68 million and is not stopping.

Spotify currently has 40 million paying subscribers and newly launched Apple Music has 20 million users. Apple launched its music service in 2015, giving listeners access to everything on iTunes, plus radio and exclusive content.

Jonathan Klein, Apple Music and iTunes music editor says what makes their service different is that iTunes is the go-to place for music; so offering all their content and more is appealing to the audience. “People have the availability to try it out for 3 months free and in that time, they see the appeal. Our collaborations with artists lets us the first to release new songs or videos exclusively on Apple Music, so fans and music lovers alike want to tune in and be the first to hear or see it.”

Surprisingly a music trade on the edge of dying has made a comeback; vinyl had a 32% increase in 2015. This revival is down to music enthusiasts who appreciate hearing their favourite albums on record players. Though it is considered to be hipster trend, it is not the sole audience.

Johan Lantz, director of Sony Music streaming and playlist strategy said, “People still like something physical, they like being able to hold a piece of music… You buy them as a collector’s item, you put it on the wall. Some of our consumers say that they have streaming but they want to support their favourite artists as well, so they buy vinyl.”

Streaming does not solely impact sales, but is now becoming a form of promotion for artists. Take R&B artist Anne-Marie; she’s now well-known for her feature in Clean Bandit’s recent hit “Rockabye”, also featuring rapper Sean Paul. But it’s her first single “Alarm” with 147 million streams on Spotify that made her recognisable and built her fan base. Even though Anne-Marie is signed to Sony Music, arguably the biggest record company in the business, her promotion came from streaming.

Johan Lantz says streaming fits consumer’s needs differently. “It’s all about access. With streaming you pay for access, but when you buy an album it’s ownership. When you pay for access, it’s all or nothing. You get everything, you don’t have to pick, and instead of buying that one album you can listen to anything. But then the problem is what do you listen to?”

Lantz explains streaming services focus more on playlists than they do albums; therefore strategizing for record companies has become more complex. “We certainly push for single tracks for streaming. It obviously depends on the artists. Some people, like Adele, will release albums, Calvin Harris will release individual tracks and then put them together later to sell as an album. It changes. Take The Chainsmokers for example, they aren’t releasing an album, they release singles. Streaming is the biggest market for that.”

Streaming is not only a platform to be heard, but also one to be owned. World-renowned rapper, Jay-Z even launched his own streaming service, TIDAL, in 2014 bagging exclusive artists and content including his wife, Beyoncé, Kanye West and Rihanna; the selling point to compete with giants such as Spotify.

But TIDAL now has to compete with Apple’s exclusivity; when Zayn Malik made his solo-debut after splitting from boyband, One Direction, Apple had an exclusive interview and release on Beats Radio with DJ Zane Lowe, for which fans had to sign up to listen and watch. Malik’s album “Mind Of Mine” gave him the highest streaming debut record for a British male act.

Mary Jones, a fan that runs a Zayn update account says, “Fandoms always have a plan weeks before an album comes out, with a hashtag ready. With Mind Of Mine, as a fandom, we made sure we covered everything; CDs, iTunes, streaming. Streaming is so important now and as younger generation, it’s sometimes easier for us to access because we pay a little amount for a lot of content, so we knew it’s something we could all take part in.”

Though it seems the physical music industry may be slowly dying, it’s kept alive through fans. “Sometimes we buy 5, 10, 20 copies of the album just to support our favourite artists. It’s a way we show our love for them in a way that they’ll definitely see it”, Mary continues.

Whilst the music industry is constantly changing, with a new craze and a revival, there is hope for a CD comeback in the future. It’s never certain which format will pave the way for music consumption. It’s down to the consumers themselves; fans, music lovers, everyone. Streaming may be more accessible for younger people, but it does not mean they aren’t supportive of ownership. It’s possible to say they keep all forms alive.