How big of a music force is YouTube? Bigger than you can imagine.
Google is scheduled to unveil something next week–I’ve been invited to a super-secret one-on-one meeting–which could end up being an announcement of the amalgamation of Google’s music services. Codenamed “YouTube Remix,” it’s said to bring YouTube, YouTube Red, Google Play Music and whatever other music services they have (Who can keep track?) under one roof.
Or maybe not. We’ll see.
What I can tell you is that when it comes to music, YouTube is huge. I mean, freakin’ unbelievable massive. Spotify is a mere gnat when compared to YouTube. This is from Music Business Worldwide.
YouTube is the most dominant streaming platform in the worldwide music business.
According to estimates published in the IFPI’s Global Music Report, the video streaming platform attracted 46% of all music streaming listening time around the world last year (excluding China).
The figure is based on research from Ipsos from 2017 that gauged internet use of people predominantly aged 16-64 in 13 of the globe’s leading music markets, including the US, UK, Germany, Japan and Sweden. (The research excluded China on the grounds that ‘IFPI is not aware of published figures for music users’ in the territory.)
Paid (subscription) audio platforms claimed 23% of total listening, according to the IFPI, with free audio streaming on 22%.
Combined, then, audio streaming platforms were responsible for 45% of all listening – one percent behind YouTube’s estimated haul.
Other video platforms, such as Vevo and Vimeo, were responsible for the remaining 9% of listening hours, according to the report.
Let us know what you find out. As a Google Music subscriber, I’m cautiously optimistic. I’m hopeful that the new service will keep our playlists and “thumbs-up” songs. I also hope we’re able to keep the music we’ve uploaded. I tend to listen to albums vs playlists, so I’m concerned that it will be a big “youtube mess”. I’ve also done my due diligence in purchasing/subscribing to multiple music library transfer services so I’ll be ready to jump ship if “Remix” is weak.