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Listening to Music Is Cheaper and Easier Than Ever, But Most Songs Are Largely Ignored

Of the 184 million tracks in Luminate’s database, 43% were streamed fewer than 10 times and 25% weren’t streamed at all in 2023.

That’s 45.6 million tracks with official ISRCs, made available through one of many digital distributors and taking up server space, that didn’t receive a single play last year. No longer faced with the limited shelf space of a brick-and-mortar retailer, consumers could explore deep catalogs and find music they loved rather than buy whatever was readily available. Just because digital distribution and inexpensive recording tools lowered the barriers to entry didn’t mean people would buy the music.

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