The streaming era has officially taken over the game, but it seems like it has a larger grasp on the music industry that you may have previously thought.
The Recording Industry Association of America released their annual year-end revenue report and it looks like the retail sector reached $9.8 billion in 2019. That was a 12% increase from 2017, marking the third year in a row that the industry sees double-digit growth driven by paid streaming subscription services. There are now more than 50 million subscriptions in the U.S. for the first time ever.
75% of the music industry’s total revenue came from streaming from Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music and others, according to the RIAA.
In related news, CD sales dropped 34%, while vinyl sales increased 8%.
When it’s all said and done, streaming is a bulk of how record labels and the industry makes their revenue and it’s only going to grow as the years continue.
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