- Music streaming platforms are experiencing a drop in listening volume in confined countries.
- Stuck at home, the French have changed their mode of consumption of music in streaming.
- The situation forces platforms like Deezer or Qobuz to adapt their editorial offer.
- Will the postponement of album releases impact the sector?
An unexpected effect! While the coronavirus pandemic benefits video streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or MyCanal, containment does not succeed with music platforms like Spotify, Deezer or Apple Music. According to figures from Alpha Data, relayed by Rolling Stone , the number of streams recorded was around 20.1 billion in the United States the week of March 13 to 19, a drop of 7.6% in volume listening.
Same story in Europe: in Italy, the first European country marked by containment measures, listening to Spotify's top 200 dropped by 23.1% between March 3 and 17, in Spain, the fall was 12 , 7%, in France, not yet placed under confinement on these dates, the drop is 2.4% according to figures from the Quartz site. Could coronavirus affect music streaming hard?
25 million French people stopped taking public transport and their car to go to work. “In the world of audio streaming, transportation is a very important time to listen. The confinement had a negative impact on the volume of viewing, ”confirms Louis-Alexis de Gemini, CEO of Deezer.
"It is not so obvious at Qobuz, but it is indeed a concern that I had in the first week of confinement, because music streaming is heard a lot in transport. When I saw the results for the week, it was more or less stable, ”reassures David Servant, responsible for Qobuz streaming. But to add: “The profile of Qobuz subscribers is not necessarily the same as that of our competitors. The Qobuz platform uses high-resolution files. "Many of our subscribers enjoy their music at home on their hi-fi system," he explains.
"Streaming is a subscription business"
“Streaming is a subscription business. Whether people listen a little more or a little less does not change Deezer's performance. People pay 10 euros a month, and whether they "stream" 300 times or 600 times a month does not change our turnover, "tempers Louis-Alexis from Gemini.
What about artists' income? “We donate 70% of our turnover to producers and publishers who then pay the musicians. And it does not depend on the number of streams but on the number of subscribers, ”explains the boss of Deezer. Good news as artists' incomes are already severely impacted by concert cancellations and lower sales of physical records, which fell 27.6% last week, while sales of digital albums fell 12.4%.
"Listening becomes homogeneous during the day"
The listening volume however "stabilized" during the second week of confinement, according to Louis-Alexis de Gemini, who observes that in Italy "the listening volume went up". "People have reorganized their lives and are listening to music," he continues. The confinement has changed the moments of listening to streaming music, leaving the morning and evening peak linked to transport and sport, "listening becomes homogenized during the day, and a phenomenon develops, music during work, he says. The weekend is less atypical too. "
In terms of content, containment also implies change. “We went from listening to songs to thematic playlists that correspond to our new daily needs,” remarks Louis-Alexis de Gemini.
"Take the workload at home in better conditions"
A trend also observed in Qobuz. “Right from the start, we put a little pop and soul playlist called" Légèreté "online. This title was very popular. This playlist, rather calm to de-stress, works very well with us, as does “Virtual Travel”, which invites people to escape with titles that evoke the great outdoors, the beach, or capitals around the world. This kind of thing works, people want to think of something else, ”explains David Servant.
Same story with Deezer: "The" Quiet Work "playlist works very well, because it helps to de-stress and take on the workload at home in better conditions," underlines Louis-Alexis de Gemini.
"There was no question of launching into playlists" containment ""
Streaming services have adapted their editorial offer. Deezer offers a dedicated space called “We stay at home” with audio content of circumstances. The playlists “Working calmly”, “Together as a family”, “Motivational sport”, “Songs and nursery rhymes for children”, “Household music” and “Kitchen music” are a hit on the platform. Deezer also offers three months of free trials until April 30.
Qobuz is betting on musical escape. "There was no question of getting into playlists" containment ". We tried to find things that cheer up people," says David Servant. And to announce: "Next week, we will put the package on children. You have to be able to keep them busy and the days are long. "On the program," Learn in songs "," Dance with the little ones ", a playlist" Lullaby "and a best-of" Disney ".
Do people have fun making their own playlists during containment? "I just noticed that people make playlists on the theme of containment," laughs David Servant. “People manage both their work and their children and have less time. They need ready-made playlists, says Louis-Alexis de Gemini. For single people, I don't have specific data. "
"We are seeing the gold go up"
No confined anthem. "No atypical particular song goes up in the ranking of tops," notes Louis-Alexis de Gemini. Listeners need to listen to songs they know. "There is more listening to the back catalog, older albums," observes David Servant. “We see the gold come back, songs that are more than two years old, observes Louis-Alexis de Gemini. There may be a need to be reassured, "remarks Louis-Alexis de Gemini, who also notes" an explosion of radio news on Deezer ".
Faced with the pandemic, some artists, like Lady Gaga or Alicia Keys, have decided to postpone the release of their albums. “For record labels, the physical still accounts for 40% of the business. So there is a reflection to release music in more pleasant weather when the physical distribution will be accessible again. They are aware of the risk of traffic jams with trips postponed after the summer, ”explains Louis-Alexis de Gemini.
"An opportunity to highlight a lot of discoveries"
“We do have big albums that have been postponed, but the volume we have of releases per week is still very small at the moment. There is still a huge choice, ”reassures David Servant. Like The Weeknd, Childish Gambino, Ninho or even Pearl Jam, other artists maintain their releases, Dua Lippa has even advanced the release of his own.
In order to avoid bottlenecks once the health crisis has passed, "Deezer offers all French producers to support the release of their artists in digital, using in particular our social networks, ie one million followers on Facebook and 100,000 on Instagram" , suggests Louis-Alexis de Gemini. And to recall: “It does not matter if the general volume of listening decreases, the stake for an artist is to have a significant market share on all listening. "It's an opportunity to put forward a lot of discoveries, which we don't necessarily have the place to put in normal times, but which we want to defend," underlines David Servant. “When you're a very digital artist, it's a good time to release a record. People want to do good and music contributes to it, ”concludes Louis-Alexis de Gemini.
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