Today, IFPI released new consumer research from Ipsos that provides insights into music consumption trends around the world.  Ipsos studied thirteen markets, including Canada.  Internet users aged 13 to 64 were asked to comment on how they engage with music.

According to this research, Canada stands out as lagging behind other major markets in the consumption of music and adoption of paid services. However, 2015 sales stats released by Music Canada in April show explosive growth in premium subscription services, largely as a result of new entrants into the Canadian market.

The full global report and summary are easily accessed on the IFPI site.

Here are the key global highlights according to IFPI with Canadian comparisons:

“Paid audio streaming is growing: 71 per cent of internet users aged 16-64 access licensed music. Paid audio streaming services are growing in popularity, especially among under 25s. One-third of 16-24 year olds now pay for an audio streaming service.”

In Canada, only 2/3 (64%) of internet users engage with licensed music.

Audio streaming consumption continues to lag behind in Canada where only 27% of consumers are using audio streaming services, indicating an opportunity for significant further growth.  However, 11% are paying for it (as opposed to using free audio streaming services) which is up from 2015 (9%), a 22% increase.  Globally, the 2016 numbers are 37% and 18% respectively.

Markets like Mexico (64%) and Sweden (61%) stand out as leading the conversion to audio streaming, and in each of these 4 in 10 consumers are paying for streaming.

“YouTube is the most used music service: 82 per cent of all YouTube visitors use it for music. More people use YouTube to consume music they already know than to discover new content.”

Not unlike other markets, YouTube usage is very high in Canada.  86% of internet users in Canada used YouTube in the last 6 months for any content with 76% reporting using it for music related content.  Most of those users (85%) accessed YouTube for music they already know, rather than to discover new music.  The report concludes that free video streaming is mainly being used as an alternative to paying for music, as 49% of music video streamers do so mainly “because it’s free.”

“Copyright infringement remains a significant problem: more than one-third (35 per cent) of internet users access unlicensed music content. Infringement is changing, with half (49 per cent) of 16-24 year olds using stream ripping services to download music.”

Access to piracy continues to evolve in Canada as well with more consumers choosing stream ripping over downloading (cyberlocker/peer to peer).  Almost one third of all consumers (27%) continue to access unlicensed content.  Half of all 16-24 year old consumers report stream ripping.

“Young people are highly engaged with music, with 82 per cent of 13-15 year-olds listening to licensed music and the majority willing to pay for music.”

In Canada, 13-15s are far more likely to access licensed audio services (55%) and one quarter of them (25%) choose paid streaming.  Half of all 13-15s access pirated music (49%) with downloading (40%) and stream ripping (44%) receiving close to equal attention.

“Smartphones are moving towards replacing computers as the most used device for music consumption, especially in developing countries. Users of paid audio streaming services are particularly likely to listen to music on a smartphone.”

Complete results can be found in this IFPI report.