Streaming becoming mainstream

More and more Australians are listening to music through streaming services. Source: Supplied

"STOP buying music and start borrowing it." That was the message to Australians one year ago when major music-streaming services finally arrived in Australia.

Back in early 2012 there were few song subscription options. You either bought a CD, invested in collectable vinyl, or paid to download a song from the likes of Apple's iTunes.

Then Rdio, Rara and Spotify arrived in quick succession, promising access to millions of songs for a low monthly fee and, in some cases, the impost of listening to audio ads.

Australians appear to be listening to their sales pitches, as even more streaming services have launched since, including Pandora, MOG, Guvera, Songl, Deezer and others from Sony, BlackBerry, Nokia and Xbox.

But can access to music replace owning it?

Spotify Australia managing director Kate Vale says the transition from well-worn albums to cloud-based playlists has already happened for many consumers, with the Swedish service's Australian launch judged one of its most successful. "It's no longer about having to own a digital download or a CD but having access to that music," she says. "Twenty million tracks must add up to a substantial number of CDs, if you think about it."

Spotify offers free, ad-supported music to desktop apps, plus ad-free and smartphone streaming for a monthly fee. While Vale won't reveal its paying-customer numbers, she says Australians have a higher than average participation rate. "Compared to other markets, it is higher," she says. "Our conversion rate is 25 per cent from free to premium services."

Since its launch on May 21, Australian Spotify users have created more than 14 million playlists and streamed more than 42.5 million hours of music.

While rival Rdio also refuses to reveal its user numbers, head Colin Blake says its first year has been "really successful"- the service just hit the 20 million-song milestone.

Rdio fired up its competition in January when it launched a six-month ad-free, web-streaming trial for users. The trial offers limited streaming but Blake says there was a recent "massive spike in mobile" as users get a taste for the service.

Listeners who don't want to pay, and prefer to enjoy background tunes, also received a music-streaming offering in the past year.

Pandora managing director Jane Huxley says the web and app-based service competes with radio rather than song sellers.

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FIVE MUSIC-STREAMING SERVICES

1. Rdio: 20 million tracks streamed to the web ($8.90/m) or smartphone ($12.90/m).

2. Spotify: 20 million tracks streamed free to the web with ads or $6.99/m without. Smartphones $11.99/m.

3. Pandora: 1.2 million curated tracks delivered as radio streams to the web and phones. Supported by ads.

4. MOG: 16 million songs streamed to the web ($6.99/m) and mobile ($11.99/m). Unmetered for Telstra BigPond users.

5. Rara: 17 million tracks available, streamed to the web for $7.99/m and smartphones for $12.99/m.

>> Spotify's first year in Australia

More than 42.5 million hours of music streamed, More than 14 million playlists created, Most popular song: Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men. Most popular Australian song: Holdin' On by Flume. Most popular artist: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

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