streaming music

Streaming music is a way of listening to songs without needing to download files from the Internet. The difference between downloading and streaming is:

Downloading music (for example from Amazon, Google Play or iTunes) means you download the music file directly to your device and store it there. Once stored, you can listen to it anytime (meaning you don’t need to be connected to the Internet). You usually pay a fee per song and you can transfer it to other devices.

Streaming music (for example from Spotify, Pandora or Apple Music) means you listen to the music over the Internet and you don’t actually own the songs. This means you have to be connected, either through Wi-Fi or a mobile data plan. You usually pay a monthly fee and you can listen to it on other devices.

Historical perspective: 75% of total music industry revenue now comes from streaming as of March 2019, according to the Los Angeles Times. Paid subscriptions to streaming services topped 50 million for the first time in 2018 and generated $4.7 billion in revenue, up from $3.5 billion in 2017.