On behalf of the Digital Media Association, which represents leading music streaming services, spark*insights conducted public opinion research among a representative sample of 2,175 adults in Canada, in December 2023. Here’s what we found:

• Two out of three Canadians use a music streaming service, including 32% who have a paid subscription. 40% use a free music streaming service (respondents were allowed to indicate if they use both a free and a paid service). One in three (35%) do not use music streaming.

• The level of satisfaction with music streaming services is remarkably high – 45% say they are very satisfied and another 41% say they are satisfied with the streaming service they use most often. Only 2% indicate they are dissatisfied.

• Young people are the biggest users of music streaming - among those under 30 years old, 91% use a music streaming service. Satisfaction levels among this group are right on the national average, at 85%. The proportion who are very satisfied rises to 51% among this younger demographic – 6 points above the national average.

• It’s not only younger people who use these services: 40% of those who are 60 or older use music streaming, and 87% of them are satisfied with the service they use most often.

• People of all income groups use and appreciate music streaming services. Use of free services is equal across income groups, illustrating that a free music service is helpful in meeting affordability challenges for those with less disposable income. Among the lowest income group in our survey sample, 39% used a free service, and 23% used a paid service. 85% were satisfied, only 1% dissatisfied.

Our Take

Bruce Anderson, Partner and Chief Strategy Officer of spark*advocacy: “Music has near universal appeal, and music streaming services have clearly built a solid and happy market in Canada – providing Canadians with easy access to an extraordinary quantity and range of music, through a variety of service offerings that appeal to people of different ages and with different levels of income. In a time when affordability is a top issue for many people, it’s clear that music streaming offers a way to afford the music they love to listen to.”