On 11 December 2023, IFPI, which represents the music recording industry worldwide, released Engaging with Music 2023, a report examining how people engage with and feel about music. Highlights of the report’s findings include:

• People spend 20.7 hours, on average, listening to music each week (up from 20.1 hours in 2022).
• 79% of people think there are more ways to listen to music than ever before (up from 76% in 2022). On average people use more than seven different methods to engage with music.
• The audio streaming market continues to grow, led by subscription audio. 73% of people say they listen to music through licensed audio streaming services (subscription and ad-supported). There was growth (+7%) in time spent listening to music on subscription audio streaming services.
• Pop is still the most popular genre in the world, with people identifying over 700 genres they typically listen to. Local genres are more and more in demand. 57% of people say it is important to them that they can access music that comes from anywhere in the world (65% among 16-24s). On average, people listened to more than eight different genres of music.
• All age groups report a strong engagement with radio; 76% of people said that they listen to radio mainly for the music.
• There is a still a demand for physical products including CD, vinyl and cassette; 13% bought a CD in the last month.

For the first time, the report includes a section dedicated to artificial intelligence. Nearly eight in ten people (79%) feel human creativity remains essential to the creation of music. For people aware of generative AI’s ability to take and copy existing artists’ repertoire, 76% feel that an artist’s music or vocals should not be used or ingested by AI without permission. Further, 74% agree that AI should not be used to clone or impersonate artists without authorisation. Most people also support the need for transparency, as 73% agree that an AI system should clearly list any music that it has used.

The study gathered views of over 43,000 respondents across 26 countries.

For more information, click here and here.