Canadian consumers are now streaming more than two billion on-demand audio streams per week — a new benchmark for the country’s music industry.
For the third consecutive week, Canada hit the two billion-streams mark in the week ending Nov. 25, according to MRC Data. The total 2.047 billion streams were up 15.9% from the same period last year.
Two billion on-demand streams in Canada are worth about 777,500 Canadian dollars ($610,000), according to an estimate by performing rights organization SOCAN provided to Billboard based on a quarterly average earnings of 0.000389 Canadian dollars ($0.000305) per stream. (“Keep in mind this is an average that considers many platforms each with their own variables,” a SOCAN representative stated. “This number is based on data for a specific quarter and will change quarterly.”)
Canada’s music industry has been getting close to two billion weekly streams for the last several months and finally hit the mark in the week ending Nov. 11 when with 2.013 billion streams. The following week, ending Nov. 18, when it earned 2.002 billion streams.
Overall, as is the worldwide trend, streaming in Canada has been climbing. This year to date, streaming in Canada is outpacing 2020 by 12.6%. That’s compared to a 16.6% increase between 2019 and 2020. It’s been five years since MRC Data recorded a half-billion weekly on-demand audio streams in the country, three years since one billion weekly on-demand audio streams and two years since 1.5 billion on-demand audio streams.
“The rate of growth is not going to be as strong as it used to be because as you get to a higher level, the rate of growth tends to decrease,” says an MRC Data spokesperson. “But there’s a very good chance we might hit the 100 billion streams at the end of the year for the full year, which we’ve never hit before. It’s close so it might be possible.”
