IMS Business Report 2023: US, Germany and the UK have more Spotify listeners but not the most cultural reach

The IMS Business Report this year recommends caution when reading the figures as although these three countries have the largest number of electronic music listeners, the cultural reach is elsewhere.

Here it is. The IMS Business Report 2023 was released on April 26, coinciding with the opening of the International Music Summit (IMS) that returns to Destino in Ibiza. The conference brings together some of the biggest names in the dance music industry to discuss the biggest challenges and also the best opportunities. It is an important and expected moment for all players in this huge (and growing) industry, as well as the release of the IMS Business Report. This document, and all the information it contains, is a valuable assessment of the growth and trends in the electronic music industry. It is an important set of data not only to summarise the past year but also to define strategies for the future.

This time, the report was written and presented by Mark Mulligan of MIDiA Research. MIDiA is a prominent source of digital entertainment research, analysis, and statistics. The IMS Report 2023 contains a plethora of intriguing facts, key conclusions, and analysis. One of them is the crowning of the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom as the countries with the biggest number of monthly Spotify listeners when it comes to electronic music.

The main lesson on page 12 of this year’s report, however, is that data should not be interpreted in isolation. According to the graph, the United States ranks first with 395.9, followed by Germany with 328.6, and the United Kingdom with 245.2. The figures are unsurprising given that they are three of the world’s largest music marketplaces. The cultural impact, on the other hand, is elsewhere. If you look at the points corresponding to % total populations, the highest points belong to Australia and the Netherlands. These two countries are smaller in absolute terms but the truth is that they are superior in percentage as a share of the total population. It is in these seemingly smaller markets that the impact of music is greatest. In these countries, electronic music represents a more culturally significant fringe and are much more interesting cultural hub. Thus, the IMS Business Report 2023 recommends caution in reading the numbers. It doesn’t matter how big the numbers are in the usual three suspects, because the most passionate markets are in other countries.

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