The landscape of music consumption is changing, according to BuzzAngle’s annual report about it. The recent release of 2018’s data shows some remarkable shifts in music consumption, including the decline in album sales.
However, that doesn’t mean that music consumption is falling. In fact, the opposite is happening; music consumption is growing, mostly due to the growing popularity of streaming services.
A number of things come with the growth of music streaming; physical album sales falling is one of them. Another effect of streaming services is that their curating is democratizing music.
By tracking user interests and pulling similarly styled artists in their playlists, they’re making it easier to access what you like. To that end, they’re helping artists break free from a label-centric way of making music.
We live in a golden age of music accessibility. Where does EDM sit in all of this? According to the report, EDM posted only a 3.9% share of album consumption.
They were beaten by country’s 8.7%, but neither even broke the top five. LP consumption was led last year by hip-hop, with over 20% of the market. It’s followed closely by pop (20.1%), rock (14%), R&B (10.6%) and latin music (9.4%).
When it comes to song consumption, EDM did no better either. Still in seventh place but with a slight jump, EDM posted 4.3% of total songs consumed. Latin music also saw a bigger piece, posting 10.8% of songs consumed. Now, looking at video hip-hop still takes the lion’s share with 22.8%, but is closely followed by latin music with 21.8%.
Ultimately, the growth of latin music in America is great thing, as the success of the genre may point to a more inclusive culture.
What types of music did you consume the most last year? Let us know on Facebook and Twitter!
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