A Indústria da Música Cresceu Um Pouco em Termos de Receita em 2015

The Recorded Music Industry Actually Grew In Terms Of Revenue In 2015

First of all thanks to Hugh McIntyre for this article.

An image taken from the RIAA’s “News and Notes on 2015 RIAA Shipment and Revenue Statistics” report (image courtesy of the RIAA).

For a while there, it really seemed like the music industry was going to disappear, as revenues shrunk year after year, and there didn’t appear to be a solution to the problem. Now, for the first time in what seems like an eternity (especially to those in the business), things are starting to turn around, and the industry might be back on track,.

According to a report released on Tuesday by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), sales of recorded music amounted to $7 billion in 2015. That figure represents a 0.9% increase from the year prior, and while that may be a growth of less than one percent, that is still progress that is very, very welcome. The RIAA reports that increased revenues brought in from all types of streaming services offset the loss of digital downloads and physical purchases, which have been dipping for years now.

For the first time ever, streaming came out on top when looking at both how much money the categories (streaming, digital, and physical recorded music) brought in and what percentage of the total it constitutes. Streaming now accounts for 34.3% of all recorded music revenues in the U.S., while digital downloads are responsible for 34%, physical revenues are at 28.8%, and syncs are collectively at only 2.9%.

The report separates streaming services into three categories: on-demand (such as Spotify and Apple Music), radio services (like Pandora and SiriusXM), and “non-subscription on-demand options” (YouTube), but grouped all three together when examining the industry as a whole. According to the report, all three of those streaming types saw increases in monies earned last year, and for the first time ever, streaming revenues topped $2 billion. In fact, revenues for the streaming industry increased by a whopping 29% to $2.4 billion.

2015 saw companies like Spotify add huge numbers of new customers, as well as a fair percentage convert from free options to paid ones that offer no ads and more features. At the same time, new entrants came to the market, such as Apple AAPL -0.56% Music and Tidal, and those companies added several million paying subscribers to the total pool.

Digital revenues now account for 70% of all money brought in by recorded music, which is up from 67% in 2014. Part of the reason why that number jumped is because now digital syncs of tracks is included in those earnings, but the category is growing rapidly even without that add on. It will be shocking if streaming doesn’t gain even more ground when this same report is updated to see how well the industry performed in 2016.