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 *******************.

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.

In 2024, revenue from digital album downloads amounted to 166.7 million U.S. dollars, less than half the figure recorded in 2018. Meanwhile, subscription and streaming revenues have been increasing annually and reached 14.88 billion that same year, making up the vast majority of revenues for the entire music industry. Digital music – additional informationThe increase in digital music revenue, more specifically subscription and streaming services, may be down to the accessibility and availability of digital music. For legal downloads, consumers can pick between services such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora. Of course, there are countless numbers of illegal sites which distribute digital music also. In 2019, approximately 34 percent of global internet users aged 16 to 24 admitted to accessing music through music ripping, the most popular method being copyright infringement.Digital music sales have made a huge impact on the listings of best-selling lists with digital sales either being combined with physical sales or set apart. The list of the top-selling digital songs in the United States in 2020 features artists such as The Weeknd, Tones and I, and Megan Thee Stallion. The title for the top selling digital song goes to ‘Blinding Lights’ by The Weeknd. The song sold over 372 thousand units in the United States from January to July 2020. Nevertheless, the share of the digital music market does not always directly correspond to the value of the digital market. The value of digital music singles downloads in 2024 amounted to 162.4 million U.S. dollars, which marked a drop in value from 678.5 million in 2017. The value of digital album sales also saw a decrease from 668.5 million in 2017 to 166.7 million in 2024.

In 2024, streaming revenues reached **** billion U.S. dollars worldwide, the highest ever recorded and nearly ***** times the figure given for 2015, when music streaming revenue amounted to *** billion. Streaming revenues now account for over ** percent of total global recorded music revenue. The music industry is changing Over the last two decades, the music industry has been heavily impacted by the development of technology and the internet. Physical sales were the main source of revenue in the music industry before digital formats were invented. Even in 2000, U.S. album shipments still amounted to around *** million U.S. dollars before dropping each year until the figure stood at just ** million in 2023. This development is also mirrored in music industry revenue trends. Streaming has dramatically increased its share of U.S. music industry revenue, making up ** percent in 2023, up by almost ** percent from the figure recorded in 2017. Meanwhile, the share of music revenue generated by physical sales has decreased in equal measures, and in 2022 accounted for just ** percent of the total. Streaming platforms With over 700 million paying music subscribers worldwide, streaming platforms have become an essential part of the music industry’s landscape. Swedish streaming giant Spotify has dominated the market for years and commands roughly one third of music streaming subscribers globally. On the other hand, Apple Music, making up **** percent of the market, and Amazon with **** percent, have struggled to keep up with Spotify’s growing audience. In the fourth quarter of 2024, Spotify’s revenue from its premium subscribers hit *** billion euros and the climbing number of ad-supported users brought in an additional *** million euros. By comparison, just seven years earlier in the corresponding quarter of 2016, Spotify’s premium subscriber revenue was *** million euros and its ad-supported revenue just at nearly *** million euros.

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.

In 2024, global music revenue generated by digital music and downloads continued its decline compared to recent years, at the level of *** billion U.S. dollars. It was the lowest figure reported since 2005. Music streaming is still in the lead The music industry has undergone fundamental changes due to the shifts in consumer demand and behavior. In 2024, global recorded music revenue hit an all-time high of around **** billion U.S. dollars, and while this figure was partially fueled by the revival of the live music sector, the top driver of growth was streaming. Music streaming accounted for an estimated ** percent of industry revenues in 2024, whereas digital downloads contributed less than ***** percent to the annual total. Audiences have come to prefer access models over ownership in recent years, which is no surprise considering the extensive range of titles available for a set rate on platforms like Spotify. Best-selling titles Most music lovers listen to their favorite tracks and discover new artists via streaming platforms. And yet, some fans also choose to pay for individual music purchases, be it via digital downloads or in physical formats. In 2023, Seventeen's “FML” was the best-selling music album worldwide, with over *** billion units sold. The K-pop band featured two of its albums in the same ranking that year. However, when it comes to vinyl, Taylor Swift led the ranks there. Her albums took up the top three spots on a list oftop-selling vinyl albums that same year.

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.

In 2024, recorded music revenues in the Middle East and North Africa grew by **** percent, making this the fastest growing region among the seven taken into consideration in an annual report. The second-fastest growing region in terms of revenue was Sub-Saharan Africa, who followed closely behind with a growth of **** percent. Latin America, in turn, followed closely behind as well, having grown by **** percent. By contrast, the revenue growth in the rest of the world remained in single digits.

Streaming music revenue in the United States has been increasing dramatically on an annual basis for several years now, and in the first half of 2024 amounted to around *** billion U.S. dollars. According to the source, paid subscription revenues were the industry's main revenue source, accounting for *** billion dollars of the total. Streaming has overtaken other forms of music consumption Since the introduction of music streaming, the format has taken the music world by storm and is now dominating the industry. In the United States, streaming made up ** percent of the music industry’s revenue, compared to ** percent of physical sales and ***** percent of digital downloads. However, while streaming is still the revenue driver of the music market, growth has significantly slowed down, reaching a growth rate of **** percent in 2022. While this is still significant growth, it is a drop from the streaming revenue growth rate of **** percent in 2021. Spotify is dominating the streaming market With over ** million paid music subscribers in the United States alone, it is no wonder that there are various streaming services competing for market dominance. So far, the most popular streaming service has been Spotify. In 2022, ** percent of respondents stated that they used Spotify most frequently. The Swedish streaming giant generated a revenue of **** million euros in 2022.

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 ***** billion U.S. dollars in 2014 to ***** billion in 2021. In the first half of 2016, ** percent of the revenue in the music industry came from streaming and a further ** percent was derived from permanent downloads. Subscription and streaming digital music revenue in the United States was worth over **** billion U.S. dollars in 2016.

The statistic presents a forecast of the global digital music industry revenue in 2015 and 2020. The source projected the revenue will increase from **** billion U.S. dollars in 2015 to **** 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 **, 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 *** million units in 2007 to *** 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 *** percent to ** percent. With some ** 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 ** million monthly active users around the world, up from only ** 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.

The global music industry continues to evolve, with streaming services dominating revenue sources in 2024. Subscription audio streams accounted then for more than half of the industry's revenue at **** percent, while ad-supported streams contributed an additional **** percent. This shift towards digital consumption has reshaped the landscape, pushing traditional formats like physical sales and downloads to smaller market shares. Streaming's dominance grows As streaming platforms solidify their position, they now represent ** percent of the total global recorded music revenue. This trend reflects changing consumer preferences, with audiences favoring access models over ownership. The extensive range of titles available on platforms like Spotify for a set rate has contributed to this shift. Despite the overall growth, digital downloads revenue have seen a decline, contributing less than **** percent to the annual total in 2024. Regional disparities in digital music revenue While streaming leads globally, the digital music market shows significant regional differences. The United States stands at the forefront with **** billion U.S. dollars in revenue from the digital music segment, followed by China at *** billion. France trails behind with *** billion dollars, highlighting the vast gap between markets. These disparities underscore the varying rates of digital music adoption and market maturity across different countries.

Music streaming revenue has increased astronomically in the last ten years alone – growing from 1.9 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 to 14.9 billion in 2024. Streaming has become a popular pastime for U.S. music fans and a major source of revenue for the industry, though many traditional consumers lament the resulting decline of physical music formats. Physical CD shipments have dwindled, whilst digital music platforms are flourishing.  The world of digital music   Platforms like Spotify have millions of users worldwide, and millions of tracks are streamed via the service each week. In the U.S., more than 25 percent of adults under the age of 35 are Spotify users, as well as almost 20 percent of adults aged 55 or above. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of digital music revenue in the United States is derived from subscriptions and streaming, and successful musicians like Drake, Eminem, and Ariana Grande  amass billions of streams each year.  Whilst many artists in the music industry generate most of their income from touring, streaming is also incredibly lucrative, generating millions of dollars in earnings.  

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.

Since 2007, it appears that the physical revenue of the music industry in France has been decreasing. In contrast, the digital revenue of the music industry continues to increase. In 2023, digital revenues recorded a revenue of *** million euros. In 2027, the digital music revenue is expected to reach more than *** billion U.S. dollars. The rise of digital music over physical revenue In 2007, the revenue of physical music amounted to *** million euros. Ten years later, the number went down to reach *** million euros. This important decrease was followed by an impressive increase of the revenue of digital music in the country, which exceeded the revenue of the physical music market that same year for the first time. Indeed, from **** million euros of revenue in 2007, digital music grew over the years to reach a turnover of *** million euros in 2017. Similarly, the sales volume of music albums in stores in France has been decreasing over the past few years, while music streaming is becoming more popular with each passing year among consumers. Music streaming in France Online music streaming is becoming more and more popular. In 2018, around ** percent of French consumers declared streaming music daily. The number of digital music users is expected to increase in the coming years. Those users seem to favor streaming compared to downloading, and online music streaming platforms like Deezer, Apple Music or Spotify are now used by a majority of French people.

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.

Over the forecast period until 2027, the revenue is forecast to exhibit fluctuations among the two segments. Only in the segment Music Streaming, a significant increase can be observed over the forecast period. In this segment, the indicator exhibits a difference of ****** million U.S. dollars between 2018 and 2027. Find other insights concerning similar markets and segments, such as a comparison of average revenue per unit (ARPU) in Italy and a comparison of number of users in Italy. The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.

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 graph presents data on music streaming revenue worldwide from 2010 to 2015, broken down by type. Ad-supported music streaming revenue increased from *** to *** billion U.S. dollars in the presented period.

Music streaming revenue – additional information

The rise of the internet in the past two decades has dramatically changed the music industry on many levels. The popularity of streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and Rdio is one of these major changes in the industry. Currently, music streaming services have two main revenue streams: subscriptions and advertising. Since 2010, the music streaming industry has seen a rise in subscriptions revenue, which has become the main revenue stream for this business. In 2010, subscriptions generated about *** million U.S. dollars in revenues for music streaming services. By 2015, this figure grew to *** billion U.S. dollars. Ad-supported music streaming revenue has also seen a small increase during the same time period, going from *** million U.S. dollars in 2010 to *** million U.S. dollars in 2015. Overall, music streaming revenue worldwide showed optimistic figures in the last few years, as the growth rate has varied between **** percent and ** percent from 2010 to 2015.

In the U.S., the revenue from music streaming services has also grown at a fast pace since 2010, jumping from *** million U.S. dollars that year to *** billion U.S. dollars in 2015. This growth also had an impact on the music streaming revenue share in the U.S. In 2009, streaming services only accounted for **** percent of the total music revenue in the country. This share grew to ** percent in 2015, the highest figure to date. The coming years are promising for music streaming services in the country.

While other sources of digital music such as downloading and mobile music digital are forecast to see a small decline in the next years, music streaming services are projected to increase its revenue in the U.S.

Over the last two observations, the revenue is forecast to significantly increase in all segments. Concerning the two selected segments, the segment Music Streaming has the largest revenue with ***** billion U.S. dollars. Contrastingly, Music Downloads is ranked last, with ****** million U.S. dollars. Their difference, compared to Music Streaming, lies at *** billion U.S. dollars. Find further statistics on other topics such as a comparison of the revenue in the world and a comparison of the revenue in France.The Statista Market Insights cover a broad range of additional markets.