According to the latest IT news released by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), streaming music subscriptions continue to obtain the U.S. music industry’s growth and revenues.
The organization said that the total music revenue grew by 18%, which amounts to $5.4 billion in the first half of 2019, with streaming music considering 80% of industry revenues.
The article also recorded that the amount of paid subscriptions exceeded 60 million in the U.S. for the very first time.
Streaming incomes grew 26% to $4.3 billion in the first half of the year.
How Did The Music Industry Make Money?
This immense amount comes from a combination of paid versions of Spotify, Apple, Amazon Music and many others.
It also includes digital radio service incomes like Pandora, Sirius XM and other internet radio.
Additionally, there are ad-supported streaming providers like YouTube and Vevo.
A Breakdown of Paid Subscription & Ad-Supported Services
Meantime, RIAA had mentioned that paid subscription streaming is also continuing to grow.
Over the past few years, paid subscriptions grew 31% to reach $3.3 billion and continue to be one of the most significant growth drivers for industry revenues.
In the beginning year of 2019, paid subscriptions gained up to 62% of all U.S. industry revenues and 77% of U.S. streaming music incomes.
This does not include the “Restricted Line” subscriptions like Pandora Plus or the subscription to Amazon Music.
For example, wherever multiple factors limit access to a full catalogue across devices or restrain some on-demand features.
This category saw $482 million in incomes, which is up by 39% from the year earlier.
RIAA chairman & CEO Mitch Glazier said streaming now produces 80% of music business revenues.
Plus iCt has fundamentally reshaped how fans find, share, and listen to the songs and artists they love.
This is thanks to the enormous growth, along with continued moderate drops in digital downloads and current physical sales.
Ad-supported services increased 25% every year up to $427 million, and the digital radio service increased 5% to $552 million during the first half of 2019.
However, as Glazier noted, the profits made by streaming were slightly offset by declines in digital downloads.
Incomes in this category fell 18% to $462 million during the first half of the year.
The digital track sales went down by 16% every year, and digital album revenues went down by 23%.
In total, digital download only estimated for 8.6% of the entire industry revenues.
SEE ALSO: Pandora allows you to share music and podcasts on your Instagram Stories
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