people dedicate 20.7 hours per week to listen to music, in six different ways and diversifying listening in at least eight genres. He 74 percent he thinks that Artificial Intelligence should not be used to clone or impersonate an artist. He 71 percent ensures that Music is essential for your mental health. He streaming the audio It is the great phenomenon of this era, but there is still a 27 percent of users who They continue buying music in physical format. And the radio, that medium that was so often considered obsolete, still alive and fulfilling an essential role in its association with music.
These are just some of the highlights that emerge from Engaging With Music (“Connecting with Music”), the report by the International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI) that analyzes public behavior during 2023, with an overwhelming 79 percent who agrees that there have never been so many ways to access a gigantic universe of musical works; a percentage that rises to 82 percent If it is limited to the age sector of 55 to 64 years old, who lived through very different times.
All of this is celebrated in the introduction written by Frances Moore, Chief Executive of the Federation of the Phonographic Industry, in what it defines as “the largest study of its kind.” The survey was carried out by IFPI and the consulting firm Audience.net among 43 thousand users from 26 countries that represent 91.2 percent of the global market, and sought a balanced representation: they were consulted among 1100 and 4 thousand people according to the size of each market, but in the total results India and China were not included, whose demographic volume could distort the figures. In Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, a target of 16 to 64 years old. In China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam, it was limited to the age of 16 to 44 years old.
With a slight growth in the amount of time people spend listening to music (in 2022 it was 20.1 hours)the report clearly demonstrates the deep transformation suffered by the music industry in recent years. From that concern at the end of the century about the possible disappearance due to piracy, 2023 found a 70 percent of users dedicated to streaming consumption (divided into 32 percent audio, 31 percent video via YouTube or TikTok and 7 percent on platforms such as Netflix, Prime Video or similar) and 48 percent who pay for monthly subscriptions. Piracy, however, remains a noted issue: the report notes that 29 percent use “illegal forms” to obtain music, such as “ripping” audio on platforms. And that percentage reaches 43 percent in the age group between 16 and 24 years old.
But beyond the strictly commercial figures, Engaging With Music It is interesting for its analysis of subtleties. For the first time, the IFPI survey focuses on AI, and the answers are resounding: The public does not like artists, living or deceased, to be “imitated”; 76 percent indicate that there must be express authorization to do so, and nearly 80 percent agree with the phrase “Human creativity remains essential to the creation of music.” 70 percent affirm that ““there must be restrictions” for AI, and for 64 percent “governments must get involved” in these limits.
If the appreciation of how fundamental music is for the mental health is an indicator of why the industry came out of the hole caused by the crisis of the physical format (which in any case refuses to disappear, especially with the “resurrection” of the vinyl record), there are other data that point to the possibilities of the digital world. He 57 percent of those consulted celebrated the new ecosystem as a way to “discover music from anywhere in the world” (a percentage that rises to 65 percent in the 16 to 24 age group). 52 percent indicated that music gives them a feeling of cultural and social identity; 55 percent reported living with pride for an artist from his country to achieve global success.
And the genres? The global ranking placed pop as favorite music, followed by rock, hip hop/rap, electronica/dance, Latin music, R&B, classical/opera, country, soundtracks and reggae. And this ranking of preferences influences another analysis, the one that accounts for the presence of radio in the musical universe. Even 59 percent of the 16-24 year old universe claimed to listen to it. Obviously, this percentage grows as the older segments are explored, reaching a 78 percent in ages 55 to 64. The data that closes this section should be considered by radio broadcasting programmers: 85 percent of users stated that if the radio does not include music, they turn it off and go look for songs elsewhere. Perhaps the most striking fact in the entire report has to do with live music: just 4 percent of those surveyed He claimed to consume it that way.
Buy music
13 percent bought a CD in the last month
9 percent bought a vinyl
5 percent bought a cassette
Why buy vinyl
I like collecting records: 24 percent
I like to own music in physical format: 22 percent
I like the vinyl ritual: 19 percent
I like to have vinyl records in sight: 19 percent
The health of the radio
76 percent listens to radio mainly for music
67 percent tune a radio to the music they play
63 percent I wouldn’t listen to the radio if it weren’t for music
65 percent listen on a radio or in the car
17 percent on the phone or computer
9 percent on a “smart speaker”
8 percent with other systems
