A new global study carried out by France-born music streaming service Deezer found that 54% of respondents are listening to fewer albums than they were 5-10 years ago.
This decline, according to Deezer’s respondents, stems from them having “too much music to choose from” in addition to being too busy to stick with a single LP.
Deezer surveyed 8,000 adults including 2,000 respondents each from the USA, Germany, France and Brazil.
Only 9% of the people surveyed said that they favor albums, with millennials reportedly twice as likely as baby boomers to state that they prefer albums.
According to Deezer, almost 40% of those surveyed said that they prefer playlists, while 1 in 10 felt that “artists don’t make albums like they used to”.
The study also found that, on average, people are streaming five albums per month, with some variation per country: Brazilians listen to the most, with the French and Germans listening the least.
While 36% listen to the tracks in chronological order, 40% Brazilians said that they shuffle the songs in their albums.
Deezer says that 94% of the survey’s respondents agreed that higher audio quality is the most important feature for album listening.
“The amount of great music released these days is so huge and available time has shrunk so much, it’s no surprise that more music fans turn to playlists for their music fix.”
Frederic Antelme, Deezer
Frederic Antelme (pictured), Deezer’s VP Content and Productions, said: “The amount of great music released these days is so huge and available time has shrunk so much, it’s no surprise that more music fans turn to playlists for their music fix.
“But listeners shouldn’t ditch albums. They represent the artist’s vision, tell a story and take you on a musical journey.”
“They actually give you a deeper listening experience. That’s why people pay much more attention to the sound quality when listening to albums.
“The small details matter and HiFi sound brings that out. As a music fan, I can honestly recommend all listeners enjoy a full album from their favorite artist, even if it’s just from time to time.”Music Business Worldwide
