Average monthly streaming subscription prices falling

The average global per-user monthly streaming subscription payment was US$6.49 in 2015, falling 24% from 2013, according to a new Streaming Music Pricing report produced by MIDiA Research.

While streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music regularly advertise a fixed price of around $10 per month, promotional pricing, variable territorial costs and mobile bundles drag this figure below the marketed prices.

The report indicates there were 106.3 million music streaming subscribers globally at the end of last year, affirming its position as the trending medium for music consumption.

Furthermore, paid music streaming is showing steady signs of expansion as the yearly growth percentages from 2015 to 2016 was greater than the equivalent growth from 2013 to 2014.

By 2018, streaming subscription growth may begin to reduce, according to MIDiA’s research report. This is because many of the world’s evolved streaming markets, such as Sweden, France and the US, will supposedly begin to hit their saturation point.

Active subscriptions may reach 221.5 million by the end of 2020, providing streaming music evolves to offer a more sophisticated tiered pricing menu, says MIDiA’s report. This also depends largely on strong growth in emerging markets and the effectiveness of services’ ability to tap mainstream audiences in evolved streaming markets.

Despite showing small increases in streaming service subscriber bases, the report suggests that lowering the price of standard tier subscriptions will marginally reduce the overall revenue generated by streaming services.

19% of current streaming subscribers approve of the idea of a Premium Plus model for US$19.99, says the report, which could potentially offer users added extras including high-definition streaming content and artist exclusives.