What’s the Status of the Music Streaming Market?

The music streaming industry is showing signs of slowing growth—not decline, but a tapering off from the explosive expansion of the previous decade. Here is an overview of the current state of streaming and its future.

1. Growth Trends Over the Last Ten Years

2013–2019: This period saw hyper-growth, with double-digit annual increases in streams driven by:

Smartphone adoption

Expansion of broadband/wireless infrastructure

Spotify’s and Apple Music’s global rollout

Playlist culture and algorithmic discovery

2020–2022: The COVID-19 pandemic temporarily flattened or redirected growth as commuting dropped, but home listening increased. Overall volume held or grew, though patterns shifted (e.g., more lean-back listening).

2023–2024: Industry data (from IFP shows slower growth rates in total streams:

Global music streaming revenues still rose, but less steeply (e.g., +11.5% in 2023 vs. +18.5% in 2021).

Total audio streams grew in volume, but that growth is leveling off in mature markets (U.S., U.K., Canada).

2. Why Is Growth Slowing?

Market saturation: Most consumers who are likely to subscribe or stream regularly already do.

Platform fatigue: There’s some evidence of streaming burnout—constant access to music has reduced urgency and excitement for many users.

Short-form video competition: TikTok and Instagram Reels have changed how music is sampled, with more people engaging with short music clips than full tracks or albums.

Economic pressures: Subscription fatigue and inflation may make some users reconsider paying for multiple services.

3. What It Means for Consumption Behavior

This slowing growth doesn’t imply that users are abandoning streaming—it signals maturation. Here are three shifts worth noting:

A. Listening Time Is Fragmenting

People aren’t necessarily streaming less, but they are splitting their attention:

Podcasts, audiobooks, and ambient content now share ear-time.

Music is more background than foreground, especially in Gen Z’s multitasking digital lives.

B. Repetition and Comfort Listening

Many users increasingly turn to familiar music, with repeat listening of catalog tracks rising.

Catalog now accounts for >70% of U.S. streams.

Consumers use streaming as a utility or emotional regulator, rather than as a discovery engine.

C. Playlist and Platform Dependency

Listeners have become more passive:

Relying on algorithmic or editorial playlists instead of searching or curating.

This centralizes power with DSPs (Spotify, Apple Music) and shapes how music is experienced (shorter songs, faster hooks, etc.).

Slowing Growth in Mature Markets

While global revenues continue to rise, mature markets like the USA are experiencing a slower growth rate, indicating market saturation.

Emerging markets in Asia and Latin America are driving global growth, highlighting a shift in consumption patterns.

The industry is transitioning from rapid growth to a phase of consolidation and diversification, with a focus on expanding in emerging markets.

What Happened to Rock Radio?

Here’s the story of Rock Radio’s Challenges

What caused rock radio's audience decline? The reasons are deep-rooted, tied to shifts in both music culture and consumption habits. Here’s a breakdown of why rock radio doesn’t currently pull a larger audience:

1. Rock Has A Generational Identity

Rock music's peak was largely from the 1960s through the 1990s. The genre is strongly associated with Gen X and older Millennials. As those listeners age, they’re less in the advertiser-coveted 18–34 demographic. While these fans are still engaged, they're increasingly shifting to on-demand platforms (Spotify, YouTube, vinyl) rather than tuning into radio.

2. Mainstream Music Tastes Have Shifted

Pop, hip-hop, Latin, and electronic genres dominate mainstream charts, TikTok, and streaming platforms. Rock hasn’t had major cultural breakthroughs in the last 15 years that resonate across generations, especially with younger listeners who drive most format growth.

3. Lack of New Hit-Driven Rock

Modern rock has fragmented into niches—indie, alternative, hard rock, emo revival—but there’s no central, chart-topping rock movement like grunge or classic rock. Without consistent new hits, rock radio leans heavily on recurrents and classics, making the format feel static.

4. Rock Radio Programming Has Been Too Narrow

Many rock stations have stuck to rigid playlists focused on legacy acts. This has made stations sound repetitive and out of touch to potential new fans. Even formats like “Active Rock” often ignore emerging artists in favor of older acts that test well in call-out research but don't inspire passion in younger listeners.

5. Streaming & Personalization Took the Rock Audience First

Rock fans were early adopters of digital music—Napster, iTunes, then Spotify. They're more likely to create their own playlists or stream full albums than rely on radio. This independence from curation eroded rock radio's value proposition early.

6. Rock’s Identity Crisis

Rock used to symbolize rebellion and innovation. Today, it sometimes feels backward-looking. Genre lines have blurred, and much of what might once have been “rock” is now classified as pop, alternative, or even hip-hop (e.g., Machine Gun Kelly, Post Malone). That leaves traditional rock radio unsure how to evolve.

7. Advertising Pressures Favor Mass Appeal

Rock’s aging and male-skewing audience isn’t as attractive to advertisers compared to formats like Top 40, Hot AC, or Country, which deliver broader demos, more women, and a perception of being more “current.” That leads to fewer investment dollars, promotions, and programming innovation in rock radio.

In short, rock radio hasn’t kept pace with how its core fans consume music or how new audiences discover it. It's suffering from both a perception problem (old, stagnant) and a market shift (streaming-first music habits). There are still passionate rock fans—but they’re increasingly served outside of radio.

But Rock Radio does have its successes.

Rock Radio Format Trends (2023–2024)

Classic Rock

• In 2023, Classic Rock showed a gradual increase in audience share, rising from 5.3% in January to a peak of 5.9% in June, before slightly declining to 5.6% in August.

• In Q4 2024, Classic Rock maintained a steady presence with an 18+ audience share of 5.5%, and a streaming share of 5.1%. Insideradio.comRadio World

Modern/Alternative Rock

• This format experienced modest fluctuations in 2023, with audience shares ranging from 2.4% to 2.6%.

• In Q4 2024, Alternative Rock held a 2.5% share among listeners aged 18 and older, with a slightly higher streaming share of 3.6%. Insideradio.comRadio World

Mainstream Rock

• Mainstream Rock remained relatively stable in 2023, with audience shares hovering around 0.5%. Radio World+3Insideradio.com+3Insideradio.com+3

Overall Rock Radio

• Between 2014 and 2018, rock radio's combined 12+ share grew from 11.8% to 12.7%, indicating a positive trend during that period. Insideradio.com

The above chart was constructed using illustrative data to represent general trends in U.S. radio format audience shares. While it reflects observed patterns, the specific percentages were not sourced from a single official dataset.

Podcasting and the Paradox of Choice

How Decision Stress Is Changing Listening Habits

In the early days of podcasting, finding something new to listen to felt like a treasure hunt—there were only a few thousand shows, many of them passion projects, and the process of discovery was part of the appeal. Fast forward to today, and the landscape has changed dramatically. With over five million podcasts and tens of millions of episodes available globally, podcasting has become a saturated marketplace. While this growth is a testament to the medium’s vitality and reach, it also introduces a new challenge for consumers: decision stress.

Decision stress—also known as choice overload—occurs when the sheer number of available options makes it harder, not easier, for people to make a selection. It’s a paradox that has been studied extensively in behavioral psychology and is now increasingly relevant in the world of digital media. In podcasting, this stress manifests in several ways, all of which are beginning to impact how and how often people consume content.

First, discovery fatigue is real. Listeners often find themselves spending more time scrolling through their podcast apps than actually listening. Recommendation algorithms offer some help, but they are far from perfect. Most rely on broad popularity or surface-level metadata, often missing the mark on personal taste or niche interests. As a result, many listeners default to what’s familiar: they stick to a handful of known shows or replay old favorites rather than venture into the overwhelming unknown.

Second, the abundance of choices can lead to a kind of passive disengagement. Much like the phenomenon on streaming platforms where viewers endlessly browse without watching anything, podcast listeners can fall into a similar rut. When faced with too many equally appealing options, people may simply opt out altogether—choosing silence, music, or another medium that requires less cognitive effort.

This dynamic is particularly notable among casual listeners. Heavy podcast users may still enjoy the hunt for new voices and ideas, but occasional listeners—who could represent significant growth potential for the industry—are often the ones most affected by decision stress. If finding something to listen to feels like a chore, these users are less likely to form regular habits.

Podcast creators and platforms are beginning to take notice. Some are curating more tightly defined playlists or “starter packs” to guide listeners. Others are experimenting with short-form podcast discovery tools, akin to social media reels, that offer quick, swipeable previews of full-length episodes. These efforts are designed to reduce friction and simplify the decision-making process.

Ultimately, the problem isn’t the quantity of content—it’s the lack of reliable, personalized pathways through it. As podcasting continues to mature, solving the challenge of decision stress will be key to sustaining and expanding its audience. Listeners don’t need more choices; they need better ones. And more than anything, they need help navigating the noise.

In the age of abundance, curation is king. The platforms and creators that can master the art of thoughtful, intuitive recommendation will be the ones that define podcasting’s next chapter.