2016 has already presented the music industry with ‘stream-rippers’ as a demographic group to have sleepless nights about. Now they’ve been joined by ‘trial hoppers’.
That’s people who “game the system by hopping from one free trial to another by simply signing up with multiple different email accounts” according to consultancy Midia Research.
“In the case of Apple Music (which has a 3-month free trial), this means that a user can get a full year’s worth of music by simply changing email address (and iTunes account) three times.”
Midia claims that more than a quarter of people who identify themselves as music subscribers exhibit this behaviour. “This means that in a worst-case scenario, between a fifth and a quarter of music subscribers are in fact freeloading trialists hopping from one trial to another.”
It’s a useful jump-off point for a more positive conversation: what might help streaming services to persuade these users to stop hopping? More hyper-personalised recommendations and playlists? Cheaper subscriptions? Deeper social features?
2017 will be ripe for deeper discussions on conversion rates in the streaming world.
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