Music streaming touched the 1-trillion mark in 2019, according to Nielsen Music and MRC Data’s 2019 Year-End Music Report. The report, which drew on analytics from streaming platforms in the United States, found that more than a trillion songs were played, which equates to around 3,500 songs per person. This represents a 29 per cent increase in the number of songs played in 2018.
Audio streaming has also grown by 24 per cent in 2019. Google-owned YouTube dominated on-demand video streaming of music. Video streams of songs rose 41 per cent year-on-year to 401 billion in 2019.
Streaming revenue (as % of total music revenue)
The rise of cheaper data plans has caused the number of songs streamed over the internet to increase exponentially in the past decade. Music streaming rose tenfold between 2014 and 2019. This is spread across a number of apps like Apple Music, Spotify, and regional streaming platforms, some of which are supported by ads, while others are subscription based. Streaming services now account for 80 per cent of music revenue in the U.S., replacing CDs, vinyl records, and simple mp3 downloads as the most preferred means of consuming music.
Video platforms accounted for the lion’s share of on-demand music streams till 2015, the year Apple decided to dip its toes in the music streaming business with Apple Music. As it started garnering subscribers, similar entities started to sign up subscribers who were willing to pay for high-quality audio playback that consumed less data than what a free video stream with annoying ads would.
With a marked shift in listening preferences, people started migrating to pure audio streams. In 2019, audio streams accounted two thirds of all music streams. In 2013, video and audio streams shared the spoils among the 106 billion songs played. Today, audio accounts for 65 per cent of all streams.
Telegram, Symbian Phones, DVD Players & Other Tech That Became Obsolete This Decade
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Getting Nostalgic
2019 is done, and with this, another decade comes to an end. The past 10 years have witnessed many advancements but the changes in the world of tech have been remarkable.
Artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality have taken an important place in people's lives thereby making them more tech-reliant.
Earlier, maps - physical copies - used to help navigate around town, but now, Google Maps does it better.. On symbian phones, users were forced to press number 9 repeatedly in order to type 'Z'. This too, has been taken care of by AI, thanks to features like auto correct.
As a new decade beckons,, let's take a look at the many forms of tech that became antiquated.
Symbian Mobile Phones
Symbian phones, also known as feature phones or keypad phones, would now be considered inconvenient, thanks to their chunky status.The devices today are multi-purpose in nature, when compared to their predecessors which could be used only for making calls and sending text messages, and a few games.
Today, smartphones allow users to navigate their way through cities, read books, make video calls, click pictures, stay connected on social media and even monitor their health .
Deemed as the communication revolution, keypad phones were brought to India in 1995. However, the first Android smartphone came to the country in 2009 and soon became omnipresent.
DVD Players
Remember the time when you used to bring home a Compact Disc (CD) of a popular film and played it in two parts on a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) player? Well, thanks to streaming services like Netflix, Hotstar and Amazon Prime Video, the device now finds a place in the store room.
Launched in 2016, Netflix met the needs of impatient users who wished to enjoy content on their smartphones and laptops, without any commercial break. The introduction of 4G made it easier for film and TV buffs to get what they wanted.
Gaming Consoles
The '90s kids may never be able to forget the joy of playing games like Mario, Contra and Adventure Island. However, consoles like PlayStation, Xbox, Wii and many others redefined the way we looked at gaming.
Augmented reality, virtual reality and many other forms of technology made gaming a more engaging activity, unlike the obsolete systems.
While the older ones continue to find a place in our hearts, the past decade saw them vanish from stores.
MP3 Players
Not long ago, people used to plug-in their MP3 players and enjoyed music on the go, while travelling, jogging or during any other activity.
Now, music can be enjoyed on smartphones, thanks to millions of music apps on Play Store and Apple Store.
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