In 2024, the total revenue of the recorded music industry amounted to **** billion U.S. dollars. Global streaming revenues reached **** billion U.S. dollars in the same year. Overall, recorded music increased by nearly **** percent, representing a steady growth rate compared to the previous year. Music streaming – the motor of the industry Data on the revenue generated by the different segments of the music industry worldwide show that music streaming is responsible for by far the biggest share in the industry in recent years. The streaming revenue has been growing year by year since the late 2000s and early 2010s and overtook the revenue from physical sales as of 2017. With two thirds of the global music revenue in 2024 coming from streaming, it was undoubtedly the backbone of the industry. Smaller regional markets are catching up While the global music market rose by around five percent in 2024, this growth rate varied significantly when broken down regionally. Whereas growth in the biggest regional music markets, North America, Asia and Europe, remained in single digits, the music markets in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the MENA region grew at a fairly high rate respectively.

Data on recorded music industry revenue in the United States from 2009 to 2024 shows steady growth from 2015 onwards. The revenue reached over ** billion U.S. dollars in 2024, up from the ***billion reported in the previous year. Music is the revenue driver of the audio market With music being part of everyday life as well as a popular form of entertainment, it has been the most popular audio format and is likely to remain the revenue driver of the industry. Global recorded music revenue alone generated a total of **** billion U.S. dollars in 2024. In the United States, recorded music industry revenue amounted to **** billion U.S. dollars in 2024, which is more than twice as much compared to 2009. Streaming is dominating music consumption Over the years, streaming has become increasingly popular, overtaking other forms of music consumption. Especially physical sales of music have experienced a sharp drop in numbers, only slightly recovering in recent years. Nonetheless, while streaming is by far the most popular way of consumption, the boom it has experienced over the last 10 years or so seems to be slowing down. In 2022, global music streaming revenue only grew by **** percent, which is a significant drop from the growth rate of **** percent in the year before. In 2024, the recorded growth dropped to *******************.

The statistic provides information on the music industry revenue in the United States from 2012 to 2015, as well as a forecast for 2016 to 2021. According to the source, the revenue will grow from 15.87 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 to 22.61 billion in 2021. In the first half of 2016, 47 percent of the revenue in the music industry came from streaming and a further 31 percent was derived from permanent downloads. Subscription and streaming digital music revenue in the United States was worth over 3.83 billion U.S. dollars in 2016.

In 2018, preliminary estimates suggested that the total revenue of the global music industry amounted to ***** billion U.S. dollars, up from just under ** billion a year earlier. The figure is expected to consistently increase each year and surpass ** billion U.S. dollars in 2023.

A recent study exploring the global music industry found that revenues from live music events grew by ** percent in 2023, reaching over ** billion U.S dollars that year. The market estimates are showing promising growth to pre-pandemic levels and revenue figures surpassing ** billion dollars by the end of 2030. Concerts amid COVID-19 The outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the live music sector as concert venues closed, tours were halted, and festivals rescheduled. But while some events were canceled or postponed indefinitely, others were merely moved online to let music lovers enjoy performances by their favorite artists in a socially distant manner. In Europe, for example, the share of festivalgoers who watched a live music stream during coronavirus lockdowns stood at ** percent, with a similar share of survey respondents stating they would happily pay to do so. Live stream concerts have become popular alternatives to in-person shows in recent years, and while some artists uploaded pre-recorded concert films to video streaming platforms, others took the virtual stage in gaming apps Fortnite or Roblox. Most successful live music tours The live music sector awoke from a deep slumber in 2021 as social distancing measures were loosened and travel bans lifted in many parts of the world. Two years later, looking at the top-grossing concert tours that year, Taylor Swift was taking over the concert market, with her tour's earnings reaching over *** billion U.S. dollars. Beyonce's tour ranked second that year, however, the grosses trailed behind at the level of *** billion dollars.

The statistic presents a forecast of the global digital music industry revenue in 2015 and 2020. The source projected the revenue will increase from 11.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 to 15.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. The digital music industry - additional information
The rise of the internet in the past two decades has dramatically changed the music industry on many levels, including how music is produced and distributed, how artists are discovered and promoted, as well as what exactly generates profit. One of the more positive aspects of music in the internet era is perhaps the existence of platforms such as YouTube or Sound Cloud, where unknown artist can be discovered and ultimately achieve commercial success, such as pop idol - Justin Bieber. He was only 12, when a producer found his profile by accident and brought him to international fame in only a few years. The major drawback of the digital world is the high rate of illegal music downloads, which have marred the industry on a global level, as well as the low costs of legal downloads, as compared to physical recording. As of 2014, the industry has witnessed a significant drop in sales of CDs, CSs, LPs and digital albums, from 500 million units in 2007 to 257 million units in 2014 in the United States alone. Many consider that the increase in popularity of legal digital downloads cannot make up for the loss, as digital music prices do not include manufacturing and transport costs, which further hurts musicians and labels. As of 2014, the U.S. music market has witnessed a growth of the digital share of music revenues from 2.9 percent to 71 percent. With some 37 million music tracks available as of June 2015, Apple’s iTunes Store is presently the largest music retailer in the world. At the time of its launch in 2003, it revolutionized the industry with its payable downloads, but the market is moving more and more to another type of digital consumption: streaming. Platforms such as Spotify, Pandora or Deezer offer limited free access to music, which is supported by ads, and subscription-based access to an almost unlimited number of popular tracks. As of June 2015, Spotify had 75 million monthly active users around the world, up from only 15 million two years prior. According to a recent forecast, digital music streaming is the fastest growing sector of the music industry, while physical recorded music is expected to experience a negative growth rate between 2013 and 2018.

Streaming accounted for 84 percent of the U.S. music industry's revenue in 2024, up from 65 percent in 2017 and marking an increase of nearly 20 percent in that period. During the same time period, the share of revenue generated by digital downloads decreased significantly.

The size of the music market in Japan amounted to ***** billion Japanese yen in 2024. The market consists of recorded and digital music. As a breakdown by format shows, recorded audio products continued to be the largest format, followed by streams. Music industry in Japan Music holds a cherished place in Japan's society. One notable aspect of the Japanese music market is the enduring popularity of physical formats like CDs, which have maintained significance despite global trends favoring digital streaming. The popularity of CDs can be traced back to the strong fandom culture that drives fans to support their favorite idols or bands through physical item purchases. Despite the enduring popularity of CDs, Japan's music industry has seen a shift towards streaming services in recent years, as evidenced by the increasing sales value of music streaming. This shift in revenue stream prompts traditional music companies to expand into new areas and also to diversify their businesses into non-music sectors. Music-related media usage trends in Japan In Japan, television once held a significant influence over music popularity, driving CD sales through numerous music programs. However, the average television viewing time shows a long-term decrease, while the time people spend on social media has been increasing. This change has impacted people's engagement with music. The internet and social media platforms have made it easier for anyone to share their music, leading to an increase in the number of artists whose songs achieve hit status and debut via platforms like TikTok. Additionally, there has been a shift in the type of music that becomes popular with the rise of music streaming. The ability to listen to music anytime has widened the gap between release times and success, emphasizing the importance of sustained popularity for hits.

In 2024, China's music industry revenue amounted to ****** billion yuan, representing a 4.97 percent increase from the previous year. The digital music segment contributed almost *** billion yuan. Among all industry segments, music performances recorded the highest growth rate at ** percent.

Revenue in the music industry in Germany in 2024 amounted to round 2.38 billion euros. While physical sound carriers accounted for around 16 percent of sales, the digital segment accounted for around 84 percent.

In 2023, the music production sector of the South Korean music industry posted sales totaling around *** trillion South Korean won. It was the most successful sector in terms of sales, followed by performances and online music distribution.

This graph depicts the revenue of the music industry worldwide from 2002 to 2014, broken down by category. In 2014, revenue generated by digital music amounted to **** billion U.S. dollars.

Music industry revenues worldwide – additional information

The worldwide music industry revenue is often broken down by digital, physical, performance rights, and synchronization revenues. A forecast made in June 2016 of the compound annual growth rate of global music revenue between 2015 and 2020, by category, outlines which sectors of the industry are expected to perform well. It was predicted that digital music streaming revenue would grow by ***** percent annually. However, it was estimated that digital music downloading would decrease by ***** percent annually in the presented period and physical recorded music revenue is expected to experience a ** percent reduction annually.

Digital music’s expected dominance does not necessarily render traditional music formats defunct. Vinyl or LP records, which have been played since the *****, have had their worldwide sales recorded from 1997 to 2015. In 1997, vinyl records generated *** million U.S. dollars. However by 2006, their popularity appeared to have diminished as revenue dropped to a low of just ** million U.S. dollars. Surprisingly, the traditional format has undergone a revival as worldwide sales generated a record *** million U.S. dollars in 2015.

While music streaming had been generating the vast majority of the global music market revenue for several years, in 2024, revenue from streaming also recorded the highest growth of all music segments, at *** percent. In fact, music streaming dominated the digital music market at the expense of other formats, such as downloads and other digital or physical sales who were the only segments shrinking in revenue in 2024.

According to a 2020 study exploring the global music industry, worldwide live music sponsorship revenues will amount to **** billion U.S. dollars in 2024. The projected figure for 2020 was *** billion U.S. dollars, with ticket sales for that year estimated at around ***** billion. The effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the live music industry have been extremely detrimental to revenue generation, affecting artists, venues, and events companies alike. Whilst it is anticipated that live will begin to recover in 2021, naturally this depends on the amount of venues able to reopen, the size of those venues, and the number of events allowed to take place.

Employment data from the U.S. music industry show that establishments in the record production and distribution sector had the most employees in 2017, with 9,413 in total. Music publishers and sound recording studios each employed over five thousand people each overall.

In 2021, the recorded music industry in Mexico generated revenues of 284.7 million U.S. dollars, up from 208.3 million dollars in the previous year. Thus, the annual growth rate of the Mexican music industry stood at 27.7 percent.

In 2024, physical music sales generated *** billion U.S. dollars, whereas digital music sales made *** billion worldwide. The majority of global music revenue now comes from streaming, and accounted for more than ** billion U.S. dollars in total industry revenue in 2024.

The source estimated that, in 2022, live music in Mexico would generate around *** million U.S. dollars in revenue. The annual figure was forecast to continue to increase in the following years, reaching *** million dollars by 2026. In 2021, Mexicans' favorite digital music genres included pop, rock, and urban music.

In 2023, the sales revenue of the music industry in South Korea totaled around **** trillion South Korean won. This represents an increase of about **** percent since the previous year. The music industry accounted for *** percent of the total sales revenue of the domestic content industry that year. The explosion of album sales in South Korea With a massive increase in album sales in the last decade, selling music albums has become one of the main income sources for the music industry. In 2023, sales drastically rose to reach over *** million, accelerated by the K-pop fandom tendency to buy physical albums in order to achieve benefits such as artist photo cards. As a result of this incentive, most physical album sales are seized by K-pop groups instead of individual artists. In the previous decade, the top-selling music albums were all dominated by K-pop groups, with BTS having won ***** times in a row. Streaming services as a market driver Besides the explosion of album sales, online music distribution is one of the key driving forces of the successful music industry in the country. Most South Koreans prefer to access music via streaming, with domestic streaming music services still playing a major role in the industry. Internationally, YouTube is considered a necessary platform for Korean music artists for expanding their fandom as roughly ** percent of respondents in a global survey chose the platform as the most preferred online music service for K-pop content. It has also become increasingly popular domestically.

In 2023, China's digital music market value amounted to around *** billion yuan, **** percent up from the previous year. Live music streaming and music short videos were the most important industry revenue streams.