Whilst streamed and subscription content has become the go to for the biggest names in the industry, and numbers continues to increase over this same period of time, patterns start to emerge showing how certain services are taking a higher priority over others and leading to somewhat of a monopoly on the space without room for others to get involved. That isn’t to say all online spaces follow the same trajectory, online gaming for example has plenty of room to move around as these amex casinos for example can stand out against other big names in the industry, but for streamed content it can certainly be a little more difficulty where huge money is concerned – but how is the music streaming industry looking?
Spotify – Having long been the preferred go to choose for many, it has cemented itself as the most popular of all the online music streaming platforms but has become increasingly popular over the past couple of years following the wider spread introduction and support of Podcasting too, even going as far as to sign one of the biggest podcasts in the world, the Joe Rogan Experience, back in 2020 for a reported $100 million. According to Earthweb, Spotify is a great music promotion platform, among others, which can help you make your music stand out and attract listeners.  It has become the benchmark of what to expect from music streaming but leaves little space for others to compete and grow for themselves.
Apple Music – Apple has been looking to quickly close the gap on Spotify, whilst it did initially run in to trouble with the way iTunes had operated for the longest period of time, Apple music is doing well as subscriptions continue to increase largely with the growing market share of Apple devices which use Apple music as a default. Back in 2020 a report alleged that Apple music was growing up to 2.5 times faster than Spotify too, although given Spotify already had such a large market share it hadn’t been an entirely reliable look at how the space was developing.
YouTube Music – Many daily users have likely become fed up with the constant reminders that YouTube premium exists, but also may be inescapable for Android users now that Play Music is gone, and YouTube music has come to take its place. It still holds such a small share of the overall market, so unlikely to ever replace the others, but shows in comparison just how big the competition is and how much space they still hold.
Whilst other subscription services could fit in this space, many are simply not big enough to really consider, and it does continue to raise the question – is more competition needed and what can be done to provide different options. With proposed price hikes, it’s difficult to see how any alternative could be suitable, particularly if they aren’t yet available.
