Twitch is making a strategic play to be the future home of music discovery, and a new report suggests the streaming giant is already well on its way.
A new Luminate study says that a third of 13 to 40-year-old listeners in the US discover new music on Twitch. The survey was conducted in Q4 of 2021 among 2,300+ US consumers in the US aged 13-40.
But there’s a catch.
Twitch also sponsored Luminate’s study.
We are not crying foul play or claiming payola is taking place. When a company sponsors a report that finds that the company is performing favorably, we must step back and consider the possibility of outside influence on the final results.
Our friends at Hypebot make the argument clear:
- While the survey was conducted by a trusted source – Luminate (formerly MRC) provides all the Billboard chart data – it was funded by Twitch.
- The survey admits to “a particular focus on both Twitch users and those who use Twitch specifically for music or music-related content.”
- The stated objective of the study was “to quantify the value and influence of Twitch users on the music industry.”
In other words, Twitch paid for someone to find data that presented the company in a positive light, and that person did their job.
You can’t believe everything you read on the internet. For instance, if I told you this blog is the best blog for anyone wanting to work in music, it would make sense to question my motivations. After all, I write the blog, so I have some skin in the game. It benefits me if you believe this is the best blog for music professionals anywhere on Earth. It definitely is that, but it also helps if you believe me. Get it?
Twitch does matter.
The report from Luminate presents a lot of information that helps argue the company’s influence on pop culture.
Music discovery on Twitch
- 1-in-3 music listeners in the US discover new music through Twitch
- 54% have discovered new music from streamers actively calling out songs or artists / recommending them in the middle of a live stream
- Twitch music engagers are eager to discover new and emerging artists via Twitch (62%)
Twitch houses valuable music fans
- Twitch users spend 21% more time per week listening to music than the average music listener.
- Twitch users spend 46% more of their hard-earned cash on music (per month) than the average music listener.
- Twitch users make over 10x more direct-to-artists payments (per month) than the average music listener.
Twitch users are genre-agnostic enthusiasts
- Hip-Hop/Rap is the #1 genre for Twitch’s music fans (70%)
- Twitch users are 84% more likely to listen to EDM than the average music listener
- Twitch users are far more diverse in weekly genre listenership than the average music listener — Heavy Metal (+61%), Classical (+51%), Jazz (+38%), K-Pop (27%)
Additionally, at any given time of day there are at least 2.5 million people watching streams on Twitch.
“Gaming and music are intrinsically linked, and much of the culture and fan behavior of our gaming community has resonated and found success with our music community,” said new Twitch Head of Music Geetha Mathews. “We are fueling the passion of this leaned-in audience by surfacing a diverse range of creators who are incredibly talented but still under the radar, driving discovery of emerging artists. We aim to help these creators break through the noise by bringing their authentic selves to a massive global user base eager to connect and contribute.”
