Spotify market share stagnating

On a regular basis, MIDiA analyzes which streaming services have grown by what percentage and how the market shares have changed. The most recent numbers are drawn from the second quarter of 2021. According to their analysis, 523.9 million people worldwide have a paid streaming subscription. That is 109.5 million or 26.4% more than there were in the previous year. Another piece of good news is that the growth was also higher than in 2020.

Spotify undisputed but with downward trend

As expected, Spotify continues to have the biggest market share of 31%. However, this number is dropping slowly but steadily – in 2019, the share was still at 34% and in 2020 it was at 33%. But since quantitatively, they were able to gain the most subscribers and since the gap to Apple on second place is still very big, Spotify will still remain on the throne for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, this stagnation or even slight drop is probably not exactly what Spotify’s management and more importantly, the shareholders want.

YouTube Music and Amazon gain

The success stories are written by other players, specifically Amazon and especially YouTube Music. In the last 12 months, YouTube Music grew by an impressive 50% and has recently brought its market share up to 8%. Amazon grew by a respectable 25%, which is also stronger than Spotify (20%). With 13% market share, Amazon equals Tencent and ranks third, just behind Apple Music. The fact that YouTube Music is scoring especially with Gen Z and millennials should give their competition pause, as well.

Strongest growth from China and Russia

The strongest growth, however, can be observed outside the Western World, specifically at Tencent and NetEase, which are only available in China, as well as at the Russian streaming service Yandex. In fact, 37% of total growth can be ascribed to these three providers, which together amount to a market share of 21%.