No one is more willing to pay to stream music in the Nordics than Norwegians, but 3 out of 10 "music streamers" still only listen to services that do not require payment. "This affects the income of those who create the music," says communications director at TONO, Willy Martinsen.
/ 03/06/2022 / Willy Martinsen
The figures are taken from the Polaris Nordic Digital Music Survey 2022, which is being published both in and outside the Nordic region today. The survey, which has been conducted for the sixth time this year, measures music use and habits among a representative sample of the population in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
The analysis company YouGov conducted the survey in collaboration with, and on behalf of, the Norwegian collective management company TONO and TONO's Danish and Finnish sister societies.
14 years after Spotify was launched in Norway, 9 out of 10 Norwegians now listen to music on streaming services such as Apple Music, Tidal and Spotify. And while 55 percent of Norwegian "music streamers" paid for listening in 2020, this has increased in two years to 60 percent in 2022. This is 7 percent higher than the Nordic average of 53 percent. The willingness to pay is greatest in the 18-34 and 35-49 age groups.
Neither in Sweden (59 percent), Denmark (57 percent) nor in Finland (35 percent) is there a greater willingness to pay than in Norway, where 60 percent of those who listen to music on streaming services have a paid subscription.
– As a Norwegian, you are of course happy that we are the ones who have the highest willingness to pay for music streaming in the Nordic countries. The trend is also positive: More and more people are paying for listening, the willingness to pay is greatest among young people, and fewer and fewer people are using only free services. Nevertheless, it is important to note that 3 out of 10 Norwegians who stream music still only listen to music in services or with subscriptions that do not require payment. This results in far worse payment to music creators than where music listeners pay, says communications director at TONO, Willy Martinsen.
31 percent of Norwegians who stream music use exclusively services that do not require user payment. This includes advertising-funded versions of YouTube and Spotify, as well as social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, etc.
Although the number is high, it is a decrease from 37 percent in 2020. The total time Norwegians spend listening to music is now divided between 62 percent in free services and 38 percent in paid services. In other words, those who do not pay spend more time listening.
These listeners cite the following three reasons as the most important reasons for not paying for music streaming: They listen to so little music that they don't need a paid service (31 percent), there are so many free options that they don't understand why they should choose a paid service (27 percent), and it's too expensive (26 percent).
YouTube is the largest music service in Norway, although it scores lower in this year's survey than in 2020. At that time, 73 percent stated that they used YouTube to listen to music compared to 66 percent this year. Spotify, the second largest service, has the opposite trend: While 60 percent in 2020 responded that they used Spotify, this year this has increased to 65 percent. In comparison, 50 percent in 2015 stated that they used the service.
See the survey here (pdf)
About the survey:
The Polaris Digital Music Survey has been conducted six times: in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2022. The survey has been conducted by the research institute YouGov since 2015 on behalf of the Nordic collective management companies TONO (Norway), Koda (Denmark) and Teosto (Finland). A total of 1013 Norwegians aged 12-65 were interviewed using the CAWI methodology in the period 10-20 March 2022.
About TONO:
TONO was founded in 1928 and is a non-profit cooperative owned and managed by authors (composers and lyricists) and music publishers, and on their behalf manages the economic copyrights in the music they have created. TONO grants permission for the use of protected music, for example on radio, TV, the internet, concerts and cinemas for a fee, and transfers its financial results each year to the rights holders in music that has been played publicly. TONO has more than 37,000 members in Norway, but also works for millions of authors and music publishers from around the world. TONO gives music creators an economic basis to be able to create new music, and collects and simplifies the licensing of protected music to music users. TONO had a turnover of NOK 843,9 million in 2021.
Willy Martinsen, Communications Director at TONO, willy.martinsen@tono.no; Tel. +47,909 65 254