Jesse James
The self-isolation created by the novel coronavirus is having a massive impact on our economy and our communities. As we all weather the storm, today, the word comes down that the self-isolation may be causing a fall in music streaming. The news comes from Quartz, which provides quite a contrast from what we expected. Many would assume that staying in would boost streams, though the data compiled for the report may say otherwise.
The report indicates that in Italy, the top 200 most streamed songs on Spotify within the nation averaged 18.3 million streams per day in February of 2019. Comparing those 200 streams from Tuesday, March 3rd to Tuesday, March 17th, the numbers show a 23% drop in streams. Dan Kopf, a senior data reporter at Quartz spoke about the report and noted that there would be some irregularities in the date. He said, “It is possible that while top 200 streams are falling, overall listenership could be stable.”
Mr. Kopf went on to add, “It may be that less popular, older music is thriving. It’s also conceivable that there are other factors leading to lower streaming—total streams can swing substantially from one week to another.” The trend extends outside of Italy as well. In the U.S., total Spotify streams of top 200 songs fell to 77 million on March 17th. That marks the lowest number of top 200 steams for any Tuesday so far in 2020. The impact can be seen in the UK, France, and Spain as well.
Kopf believes that the sudden change to self-isolation might be the reason. He stated: “The most popular days for streaming are Friday and Saturday when people are most likely to go out.” Mr. Kopf added, “It appears listeners are more likely to stream songs when life is more normal, and they are looking to have some fun.”
What are your thoughts on the result? And, be sure to let us know what you’re listening to during these days of social distancing. In the meantime, keep it locked with The Culture Curators for more entertainment news.
