Spotify Gets Traction, Mobile a Big Factor?

Spotify, the music streaming service, seems to be getting traction, though it only launched in the U.S. market in July 2011. 


It still trails the computer-based online audiences of other music services like iTunes and Pandora by a sizeable margin. If it is to catch up with these other services, it will likely be due in large part to the company’s social strategy, which leverages Facebook for social music sharing.


There are some indications streaming music services are  getting traction as specifically mobile apps, as well. If Spotify users behave as Pandora users do, they are using the service on their mobile devices.

Spotify Makes a Splash among U.S. Early Adopters

Will Streaming Displace More Radio Listening?

A new study of 12 to 24 year-old Americans reports Internet usage of two hours and fifty-two minutes per day, roughly triple this age group's reported usage from 2000 (59 minutes).

Radio continues to be the medium most often used for music discovery, with 51 percent of those 12 to 24 reporting that they frequently find out about new music by listening to the radio. 

Other significant sources include friends (46 percent), YouTube (31 percent) and social networking sites (16 percent). Some 20 percent of users 12 to 24 have listened to streaming radio provider Pandora in the last month, with 13 percent indicating usage in the past week. 

By comparison, six percent of those 12 to 24  indicate they have listened to online streams from terrestrial AM or FM stations in the past week.

It is difficult to predict how overall radio listening might change as these users grow older, since much U.S. radio consumption occurs while people are in their cars commuting to and from work. 

The American Youth Study 2010 - Radio's Future