New report shows streaming services still face uphill battle.

Nielsen Music recently released its annual 360 Report, a poll of over 3,000 U.S. fans, and found that streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music are far from mass acceptance.

Price, it turns out, remains the first barrier stopping music fans from signing up to streaming services. 83% of those surveyed mentioned cost as the main reason for choosing a streaming platform, while 46% of those ‘not likely’ to subscribe cited ‘too expensive’ as their reason. But it’s the second most common reason for not subscribing that is revealing: ‘I can stream music for free.’

Despite the industry’s ongoing efforts to legitimise streaming and compensate for the loss in physical and digital sales with streaming, it would appear that U.S. music fans still consider music to be freely available.

Other insights from the report, as highlighted by Music Business Worldwide, include 78% of fans saying they were unlikely to pay for a streaming service in the next 6 months, which would average to 250 million U.S. residents if you took the sample as representative of the entire population.

MBW points out that, in a study conducted last year, when you factor in bundles, price variation between countries, and promotional reductions the average Spotify user is in fact paying $5.95 a month.

You can read and download Nielsen Music’s report here (PDF).