Streaming Continues To Power The Music Industry's Growth At 2017

October 20

	The RIAA (the Recording Industry Association of America) released its look at how the U.S. music industry is doing at the six-month mark recently, and the major takeaway from the report is that streaming is bigger—and more valuable—than ever before. Revenue from recorded music accelerated in the first half of 2017 in the U.S. as more consumers shelled out for subscription streaming services. Retail revenue jumped 17% in the first six months of the year to $4 billion, thanks to a record 30 million music subscriptions to services like Spotify and Apple Music. That represents almost 1 million new subscriptions each month compared with last year. Streaming music services made up 62% of the market for the first half of the year as revenue from those platforms rose 48% to $2.5 billion. In addition to subscription services, the streaming category includes internet radio services like Pandora and ad-supported services like YouTube. Paid subscriptions, up 61%, were the largest growth driver and were the biggest format in the U.S., making up 43% of revenue. On average, consumers who pay a monthly subscription fee for their listening privileges are more valuable than those who don’t seem to mind ads being inserted into their playlists and album run-throughs. There is currently a big push to convert free users into paid ones, and the more subscribers there are, the more money the companies running those platforms, and the industry on the whole, will earn. Source: https://www.wsj.com