As people continue to tighten their purse strings amidst the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, subscription to music services appears to be taking a hit, with over one million Brits having cancelled their subscriptions in the last quarter.
That’s according to a survey from data analysts Kantar, who found that 37% of those who cancelled their services cited saving money as the reason for doing so – an increase of 4% from last year. Other reasons for quitting includes such things as not having a wide enough selection of music, seeing too many advertisements or technical difficulties.
Subscriptions are falling fastest among the younger consumers with the percentage of under-35s signed up to music services having dropped from 57% to 53.5%. In total, around 600,000 fewer under-35s have access to a music subscription compared to the previous year, with students who have access dropping from 67% to 59%.
This comes amidst an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, with inflation in the UK rising to 9% and likely to increase. As people are increasingly made to choose between essentials such as food and heating, it seems a monthly subscription to a music streaming platform like Spotify is being seen more and more as a luxury.
“The rising cancellation rates of music subscriptions is evidence that British households are starting to prioritise the spending of their disposable income,” Kantar’s report further stated.
These figures are somewhat at odds with the recent conclusions of Goldman Sach’s Music In The Air report, released earlier this week, which raised predictions for global music growth by 7% and set out that the industry would reach a remarkable $153 billion (£125.4 billion) by 2030, up from $87.6 billion (£71.8 billion) in 2022.
As with many areas of consumption, those grand industry figures seem entirely at odds with what’s really happening in people’s pockets. As the cost-of-living increases, expect a few more cancellations down the road.
