by Kevin Coupe
Streaming music service, Variety reports, for the first time in 2016 were responsible "for more than 50% of all U.S. music industry revenue."
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) put out numbers saying that "paid and ad-supported streaming together generated 51% of music revenue last year, to be precise, bringing in a total of $3.9 billion. In 2015, streaming music was responsible for 34% of the music industry’s annual revenue.
"Much of that increase can be attributed to a strong growth of paid subscriptions to services like Spotify and Apple Music. Revenue from paid subscription plans more than doubled in 2016, bringing in $2.5 billion, with an average of 22.6 million U.S. consumers subscribing to streaming services last year. The year before, subscription services had an average of 10.8 million paying subscribers."
The growth came at the expense of paid downloads and CDs, iTunes and other transactional digital music services generated "22% less money in 2016, to the tune of $1.8 billion. CD sales also continued to fall, with all physical media bringing in $1.7 billion, which is 16% below 2015 levels."
There was a time when CDs disrupted the cassette tape business, and when paid downloads disrupted the CD business. It wasn't that long ago.
And if one thing is for sure, change will happen again. It is and will continue to be an Eye-Opener.
Streaming music service, Variety reports, for the first time in 2016 were responsible "for more than 50% of all U.S. music industry revenue."
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) put out numbers saying that "paid and ad-supported streaming together generated 51% of music revenue last year, to be precise, bringing in a total of $3.9 billion. In 2015, streaming music was responsible for 34% of the music industry’s annual revenue.
"Much of that increase can be attributed to a strong growth of paid subscriptions to services like Spotify and Apple Music. Revenue from paid subscription plans more than doubled in 2016, bringing in $2.5 billion, with an average of 22.6 million U.S. consumers subscribing to streaming services last year. The year before, subscription services had an average of 10.8 million paying subscribers."
The growth came at the expense of paid downloads and CDs, iTunes and other transactional digital music services generated "22% less money in 2016, to the tune of $1.8 billion. CD sales also continued to fall, with all physical media bringing in $1.7 billion, which is 16% below 2015 levels."
There was a time when CDs disrupted the cassette tape business, and when paid downloads disrupted the CD business. It wasn't that long ago.
And if one thing is for sure, change will happen again. It is and will continue to be an Eye-Opener.
- KC's View:
