The Impact of COVID-19 on Music Consumption and Music Spending

COVID-19 induced restrictions ordered by governments around the world have been an exogenous shock to the music industry, which we divide into two affected groups: 1) live music events and 2) recorded music. While the impact on live music events is rather obvious, it is unclear how the current pandemic is affecting the recorded music market. Hence, we study consumers’ pre- and post-pandemic shifts in consumer spending (in euros) and music consumption (in hours) across live music events, as well as the digital and physical submarkets of recorded music, in the world’s fourth largest music market, Germany. Relying on an online bi-annual panel capturing five waves between winter 2018/19 and winter 2020/21, we find that the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the continuous trend towards digitalization of the music landscape with premium streaming being the biggest beneficiary. However, total monthly consumer spending on music decreased by more than 45% compared to pre-pandemic, with live music events and physical sales being the most severely affected. Surprisingly, music consumption in hours also decreased during the lockdown even though consumers spent more time at home.

全球各国政府实施的新冠疫情防控限制措施，对音乐产业构成了一次外生冲击。对此我们将受影响的音乐产业划分为两大类别：一是现场音乐演出活动，二是录制音乐产品。尽管疫情对现场音乐演出的冲击显而易见，但当下大流行对录制音乐市场的影响尚不明朗。有鉴于此，本研究聚焦全球第四大音乐市场——德国，考察疫情前后消费者在现场音乐演出、以及录制音乐的数字与实体细分市场中的消费支出（单位：欧元）与音乐消费时长（单位：小时）的变化情况。本研究依托2018/2019冬季至2020/2021冬季间的五次调研波次的双年度在线面板数据，发现新冠疫情正加速音乐产业数字化的持续演进趋势，其中付费流媒体服务成为最大受益者。但与疫情前相比，音乐相关月度总消费支出下降超45%，其中现场音乐演出与实体唱片销售受冲击最为严重。值得注意的是，尽管疫情封锁期间消费者居家时长增加，但音乐消费总时长却出现了下降。