Streaming leads to increased music consumption

​A survey conducted by Norstat on behalf of Aspiro Music shows that the use of streaming services make people listen to more music. The survey also concludes that the range of music listened to increases, while users discover more artists and bands than they did before.

- It’s natural that music habits change when people have easy access to millions of songs. Streaming is growing rapidly and this study shows that streaming makes people listen to more music than before. We believe that efficient and payment-based streaming services will lead to better economy for artists, record labels and rights holder’s long term, and that it will turn around recent years descending revenue trend, commented CEO of Aspiro Music Per Einar Dybvik.

The survey, conducted in Norway in June, shows that one of three Norwegians have now streamed music, and users report that they discover new music and feel more up to date. A good 60% say they feel more up to date on music, 68% listen to more music and 72% say they often find music they didn`t know about prior to using a streaming service.

- We see these results as strong indications that streaming increases both the total consumption of music, as well as broadening the range of music people listen to. We find that very positive, says Per Einar Dybvik.

When asked if people have streamed music, the difference between women and men is striking. In the survey, 43% of the men and only 19% of the women have streamed music, and 28% of the women don`t know what it means (men 14%). Regarding who streams music, there is also a big difference between urban and rural areas, 46% in urban areas and 21% in rural areas have streamed music so far.

The survey also concludes that streaming services reduce the extent of illegal music file sharing. Over half of respondents (54%) say that streaming causes them not to download music illegally anymore.

- We believe that streaming is a giant step in the right direction, both for people in general and for the music industry, and it is definitely a part of the solution for the future. The key success factor is to develop payment solutions that satisfy the whole music machinery. We believe that our service is a part of making it happen, and we will continue to work to make our users even more satisfied, concluded Dybvik.

Aspiro Music delivers music streaming services with own brand WiMP in Norway and Denmark as well as white label services to partners. Aspiro focus on delivering a quality service based solely on payment - to ensure revenues to both label, rights owners and artists. The service is completely free of advertisements. WiMP emphasize on an active editorial that produce recommendations and playlists etc. To offer the widest range of local music is also one of its goals. The service is available for PC, Mac, iPhone and Android.

For more information, please contact:

Kristin Breivik Eldnes
Head of Corporate communication and IR
Tel: +47 908 07 389
e-mail: kristin.eldnes@aspiro.com

Per Einar Dybvik
CEO Aspiro Music
Tel: +47 901 04 317
e-mail: per.einar.dybvik@aspiro.com

Aspiro in Brief
Aspiro has a unique position as the world's only provider of both streaming music and TV services delivered as a complete white label service to partners. Aspiro utilize over ten years mobile technology and retail experience, delivering its premium services to companies worldwide including T-Mobile, Telefónica O2, Telenor, 3, TeliaSonera, BBC, Aftonbladet, mBlox, TVNorge, Entel and VG. Aspiro is listed on the Nasdaq OMX Stock Exchange in Stockholm, with local presence in all Nordic and Baltic countries and the US. 2009 sales were SEK 441 m and the company has some 140 employees.

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