The music app industry spans a large selection of apps, but the ones that generate the most revenue and installs are music streaming services.
Launched after the failure of Napster and other illegal torrenting sites, Spotify, SoundCloud and Deezer created agreements with the music industry and are now responsible for a large percentage of recorded music revenues.
As the industry has grown, so has the variety of audio formats available. Music apps now offer podcasts, audiobooks and livestream chats. At the same time, music videos from YouTube account for a significant percentage of music streaming.
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Contact Us TodayOn the periphery, there are plenty of apps available to make beats, find songs via audio listening, and learn instruments. Karaoke, DJ and audio effect apps are also popular with many appearing in the top 100 most downloaded audio apps.
In terms of benchmarks, music streaming apps are focused on subscription retention and activating a user through several key steps, such as creating an account, adding playlists, and subscribing. Music streaming services have a lock-in effect, as after a few months a typical user will have added hundreds of songs to their library and playlists, making it hard to move to an alternative service.
It is for that reason that music streaming services used to offer long trial periods, or periods when the cost of a subscription were much lower, to entice users to stick around for several months. Some, such as Apple Music and Amazon Music, still offer these longer trials, to try and lock users in.
We have collected benchmarks on the music app industry. Read on below to find out more.
Key Music App Benchmarks
- The retention rate for music apps was 3.5% in 2024, iOS apps have a higher retention rate than Google Play
- iOS apps also have a higher conversion rate, at 47.1% to the 34.6% of Google Play apps
- Activation rate for music apps was 19.2% on day one, dropping to 5.8% by day 30
Music App Retention Rate
Music app retention declined to 3.5% in 2024. iOS apps had a higher retention rate than Google Play apps.
Music app retention rate 2020 to 2024 (%)
Music app retention rate by platform 2024 (%)
Music App Conversion Rate
The conversion rate for music apps is far higher on iOS than Google Play. Install rate was at 7.7%, higher than average.
Music app conversion rate by platform 2024 (%)
Music App Activation Rate
The activation rate, which is the percentage of users that complete onboarding tasks, dropped from 19.2% in day one to 5.8% in day 30.
Music app activation rate by duration 2024 (%)
Music App Renewal Rate
The renewal rates for music apps is highest for monthly subscriptions, with annual renewals much lower.
Music app renewal rate by subscription duration 2024 (%)
Music App Reactivation Rate
The reactivation rate for music apps is highest on monthly subscriptions, and lowest on annual subscriptions.
Music app reactivation rate by sub duration 2024 (%)
Music App Pay Per Stream
Tidal pays the most per stream out of all music streaming apps, while YouTube Music pays the least.
Music streaming app pay per stream 2024 ($)
Music App Time Spent
The average user spends 22 hours per week on music apps, although the majority of it is accessed in the background.
