Streaming services have taken off thanks to wider smartphone adoption, faster internet connections (including 4G mobile) and the spread of cheap online “cloud” storage for music files. Even so, only 4-5% of music consumers in America and Britain have so far signed up for subscription streaming, says Mark Mulligan of MIDiA Consulting. But if just 10% of the people in rich countries were to subscribe, the industry’s fortunes would be transformed, says Claudio Aspesi of Sanford C. Bernstein, another research outfit.
