That’s according to a study of 500 people between the ages of 17 and 59 done by Kelly Music Research. The company says fewer than 8% of the respondents they surveyed were using the paid versions of Pandora, Spotify, or SoundCloud, and advertiser-supported free is still preferred among those who have embraced streaming. And, according to the Kelly Research study, if free were no longer an option, few said they would ante up.
The Kelly Music Research showed that, not surprisingly, Pandora leads the pack among streamers with 64% saying they’ve used some form of the service. The number jumps to 75% of the younger 17-34 demographic. Spotify was the service more likely to earn paid users with 4.6%, followed by Pandora’s paid version with 2.4%.
And, according to the Kelly Research study, if free were no longer an option, few said they would ante up. “Assuming the are other services out there that remain free, the vast majority would rather switch than pay. Only 12% say they would pay for their favorite stream if it were no longer free. Men are more likely to pay (14.2%) than women (10.5%). Younger streamers are the most willing to pay — 22% of 17-24, 16% of 25-34, 11% of 35-44, and 8% of 45-59. The remainder would refuse to pay and just find a free service.”
What would listeners do if they had to pay for their favorite radio station? “Only 9.7% said they would pay to listen to their favorite AM/FM station. Compare this to 12% who say they’d pay for their favorite stream choice.”
You can check out more details from the Kelly Research study HERE, including some verbatim comments from respondents.
Of course the majority of people won’t pay for streaming music, even if it were ad-free. Many of them are already paying for it in their data usage, although some of the wireless companies are in the process cutting the data fees for streaming. Almost a century of completely free music on the radio has trained them that way, and hopefully for the radio industry, more free streams will convert to the subscription model bringing more listeners back to radio for more TSL