Posted on 03/03/2019 6:30:21 PM PST by DoodleBob
For the first time since 1986, CD sales brought in less than a billion dollars.
For the third straight year in a row, the music industry in the US has posted double-digit growth.
That’s according to a new report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Breaking down key findings in the Year-End 2018 Report, the influential trade organization found recorded music revenue reached $9.8 billion. That’s up 12% year-over-year.
Revenue from streaming music services increased 30%, reaching $7.4 billion. Streaming alone contributed 75% of total revenue in 2018. According to the RIAA, the medium accounted “for virtually all the revenue growth” last year.
(snip)
Revenue from shipments of physical products plummeted 23% to $1.2 billion. CD sales fell 34% to $698 million. This figure marks the first time that CDs brought in less than a billion dollars since 1986.
Vinyl, however, continues on the rise. Revenue from vinyl albums jumped 8% to $419 million. This marks the highest level of vinyl sales since 1988. Breaking down physical sales, vinyl comprised more than a third of revenue from physical formats.
(Excerpt) Read more at digitalmusicnews.com ...
I wonder how these trends affect artist compensation.
It’s great for established artists getting income from older songs. Not sure how good it is for new artists.
Fact is, even downloading MP3s is a pain in the neck. For about $10 a month, whether you do Apple Music, Google Music, Spotify or whatever, you simply stream whatever it is you want to hear. So easy. And the music industry is rolling in the dough because they have all that recurring revenue without having to package or distribute any physical media.
Then you have YouTube in which you not only can access just about any song ever recorded but you can dig up entire concerts by your favorite artists.
To make money now it's about getting your song used on a TV show.
The RIAA figures are simply wrong. If you add up all the records pressed in US pressing plants, they are manufacturing about three times as many records as the RIAA reports being sold.
The truth is, many of the largest vendors don’t report sales. Mail order vendors like Music Direct and Acoustic Sounds ship millions of records a year, but their numbers won’t turn up in RIAA summaries. The same thing is true of most independent record stores.
Listening to those compressed streams can be a pain in the ears. But most listeners are now dumbed-down and accept crap.
My poor old eyes initially read the headline as ...
Screaming Accounted for 75% of US Recorded Music
Serious money being generated via streaming, worldwide.
Percentage received as compensation will jump up in a couple years.
As a royalty owner, I can tell you it’s an amazing thing.
Most of what music I buy is directly from places like Film Screen Classics.
Obscure and cult classic soundtracks of movies and TV shows.
I’ve heard some modern music. Your reading of the headline is pretty close to right, IMO.
That jump in vinyl sales is largely in the form of retro interest in LP pressing, and that interest has been keeping open the doors of the indie record stores. Used CDs are not even of much interest to the streaming customers, and that's bad because younger folks tend to spend more on recorded music. Streaming OTOH, has been great for the labels, because piracy become less of an issue, and so does the cost of inventory and production ot titles (basically they're selling the same copy over and over).
Working in retail I have seen the resurgence of vinyl records and players. It’s a sight to see among the older folks who remember it as nostalgic piece of their lives and the younger people who thinks it’s cool
Lol! That may be accurate with certain types of so called ‘modern music’., i.e. Katy Perry or Rap.
Streaming doesn’t have to be compressed. Spotify and Tidal both offer hi-fi quality FLAC streams. Stream with a good quality DAC and it is audio nirvana.
Keep in mind many artists split these royalties 50/50 with the publisher. So, if Alice In Chains got 183 million streams on Spotify in 2018, they grossed $732,000.
You don’t know what real nirvana is. All Spotify is compressed and tidal is only 44/16. Not big def nirvana.
The business of music just keeps getting worse and along with it the music
Thanks. Gotta dig into that later when I have time. Getting ready for vaca tonight.
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