While there will always be a demand for physical mediums for music, such as CDs and more recently the resurgence of vinyl, it seems that music streaming is definitely the way of the future. This is because according to the latest numbers shared by Music Industry Blog (via 9to5Mac), music streaming has grown by 39% since last year.However whether or not music streaming has overtaken regular music sales is unclear because as 9to5Mac points out, depending on the source, some say that streaming is generating more revenue compared to recorded music, while others disagree and claim that it isn’t quite there yet. However as per Music Industry Blog’s figures, streaming is said to have earned the industry $7.4 billion, which is up 39% compared to previously.
According to the report, “Streaming has, unsurprisingly, been the driver of growth, growing revenues by 39% year-on-year, adding $2.1 billion to reach $7.4 billion, representing 43% of all revenues. The growth was comfortably larger than the $783 million / -10% that legacy formats (ie downloads and physical) collectively declined by.”
So while streaming might not have outpaced recorded music in terms of sales, there is no denying that it is growing and could very well overtake recorded music in the next couple of years. At the moment services like Spotify and Apple Music are at the top where Spotify recently announced that they had reached 70 million subscribers, while Apple Music announced that they weren’t too far behind at 40 million.
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