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What is the US market size for an independent music mobile recording studio application that allows amateur artists to record songs thru their phone instead of spending money on expensive recording studios?
OVERVIEW
Hi! Thank you for your request about the US market size for mobile music recording software. In short, 4% of mobile application users spend time of music related applications that are outside of radio streaming. There are approximately 410 music productions apps listed in the Apple Store and just over 60 similar apps in the Android marketplace. Below you will find a detailed analysis of these two findings.
METHODOLOGY
To find the entire market for music production apps, I used the data filtering service, AppCrawlr, to generate a list of music productions apps in both iOS and Android marketplaces. Once I had the complete list, I used the latest reviews to find the most popular and cheapest mobile applications for music making. Data from the latest mobile application study regarding particular usage was used to determine the total market for people using mobile music apps.
APPLE SUPERIORITY
According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple owns 90% of the profits generated from mobile applications. Similarly, their prevalence in the mobile music making niche dominates in comparison to their competition. In terms of applications listed for iOS devices, there exists just over 400 that either create sounds or record whole songs. Android devices only list 61 mobile applications that can take on this task.
POPULAR APPS
Apple's native app for music production also serves to be one of the best platforms for creatives. Garageband, as it is called, comes installed free with the ability to upgrade at $4.99. For a little more money, MusicRadar lists Auria Pro as one of the more robust digital audio workstations for iOS devices, though it will cost the user $49.99 to download.
One of the more traditional music making apps available for both iOS and Android devices is FL Studio. Benefits of this platform include full song production and an intuitive interface. Costs for FL Studio mobile are $19.99, but this seems like a great value due to the fact that the desktop version costs hundreds of dollars.
Another digital audio workstations for producers is called Cubasis, which can be downloaded for $49.99. The downfall about Cubasis is that it is only available on iOS iPads only. However, Routenote claims that the money is worth it because it has been one of the most capable applications to not run on a desktop.
SunVox offers music producers who do not have an Apple or Android device the capability to record on a Windows phone. The application costs $5.99 to download and comes complete with the ability to hook up external MIDI devices.
Though Apple seems to have the advantage in terms of music production capability, Android users can still download versions of popular applications on their phone. Caustic 3 is a good example of a beginner's version of music production software available on Android devices for $5.99. Another full-scale version of a digital audio workstation on Android devices for free is called n-Track Studio 8 Pro. This application was attempted to create many of the functions that Caustic 3 and FL Studio provide music producers.
MUSIC APPLICATION USAGE
To find the total number of music application users in the United States, I located how many applications were downloaded in the United States. The calculation went as follows:
112 billion (cumulative iOS app downloads through 2016) + 65 billion (cumulative Android app downloads through 2016) = 177 billion mobile applications
Next, I found out how much users accessed mobile music applications in comparison to total app usage. Numbers from 2015 indicate that 4% of time was spent on music applications outside of streamed radio. The final calculation went as follows:
177 billion (total mobile applications in the U.S.) * 4% (percentage of music application usage) = 7 billion applications used for music services outside of radio
LIMITATIONS ON DATA
In terms of actual downloads for each of these platforms, the developers have not listed their performance metrics. Instead, music production follows similar trends to the rest of application download trends. This means that the 1% of developers like FL Studio, Cubasis, and Caustic 3 account for most of the revenue generated from digital audio workstation mobile applications.
Also, the most relevant data on the total mobile application market specifics was distributed in 2015. However, when the top applications from the past year are compared to 2015, there exists little difference in the amount of time spent on specific applications. Lastly, the final calculation above does not display how many of the 7 billion applications get used actively. The data suggests though that out of 177 billion total downloads, 4% of them have gone to mobile music related apps.
CONCLUSION
In summary, there exists approximately 400 mobile apps for music production available for iOS download, and 61 Android devices that fill similar roles. Four percent of the total U.S. application market can be attributed to music related applications that are not streamed radio.
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