Streaming music services are the music industry’s new overlords

Music industry sales are on the rise, and not because people are buying any tunes. Instead, it’s streaming services that are boosting overall profits.

A report by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has noted that profits have been steadily rising over the past three years, thanks to music streaming services.

“Revenues from streaming music platforms grew 30% year-over-year reach to $7.4-billion, contributing 75% of total revenues for 2018, and accounting for virtually all the revenue growth for the year,” the report said.

This means that streaming services like Spotify and iTunes are practically carrying the industry, as not many people buy music anymore.

“Revenues from shipments of physical products decreased to
$1.15 billion, down 23% from 2017,” RIAA added, and even digital downloads dropped by 28% for individual songs and 25% for entire albums.

“Subscriptions to on-demand streaming services remained the biggest driver of increasing revenues for the music business.”

Radio streaming also grew by 23%, according to the report.

It seems like downloading music and collecting albums are fast becoming a thing of the past, when you can simply just download an app and listen to your heart’s content.

Feature image: Dids via Pexels