Canadian Teens and Millennials Love Streaming Music

As a Canadian Millennial, I’ll be the first to admit that I frequently stream my music on apps like Spotify. It’s good for working out at the gym or when I just want something on in the background. Even with a free subscription, there aren’t too many advertisements interrupting the music.

I’m not alone in this, either. Streaming has become a major way that many Millennials and the generation after consume their music. FYI Music News gives the example of Drake’s latest album Views:

“Fueled by a massive wave of hype leading up to its release, Canadian superstar Drake’s Views is already setting the pace to be the biggest album of the year in Canada after its release on Friday, April 29. In its first four days, the album sold over 80,000 copies–and had been streamed nearly 15 million times in the market, easily beating the previous full-week record of 10 million streams set by Justin Bieber for Purpose”.

This data is reflected in the latest Nielsen Music 360 Canada report. Driven largely by teens and Millennials, over 70% of Canadians who listen to music use online streaming sites and apps. Interestingly enough, the overall number of listeners who stream their music has not increased, but the volume has. “On-demand audio streaming alone in Canada is up more than 336% in year-to-date 2016 ending April 28, with the country’s music fans streaming more than 11 billion tracks since the start of the year”.

Streaming music does bring about the problem of Millennials and teens being less likely to purchase digital tracks and albums. However, highly anticipated albums like Views do still sell very well.