For every music streamer who pays, there are 3.6 who don’t, preferring a free trial or ad-supported service. Streaming may be more popular than ever, but there’s a lag in converting these listeners to paying listeners. As well as freemium tiers, account sharing has a role in this.
Family plans and bundles may be the reason why older internet users are more likely to share their accounts on those services. Younger users may be able to benefit from family accounts, but they’re also the most likely to pay for premium access. This difference may arise from older users stating more of a preference for owning music outright rather than accessing it through a streaming service in our data.
Given the level of cross-platform interaction, streamers are picking different content and features from different services to create the ultimate streaming service and content library. Streaming services may benefit from thinking harder about what premium should mean, beyond providing the basic needs.