MIDiA Research shared its report on the global music industry for 2019. According to its figures, global recorded music revenue reached $21.5 billion, with 11.4% growth bringing the sector to a fifth consecutive year of growth. The results showed that 2019 had more growth than 2018 in absolute and relative terms.
Streaming was responsible for $11.9 billion of the industry revenue, with 24% annual growth driving the segment to a 56% share of the global total. MIDiA noted that revenue growth for streaming has been slowing. In 2019, streaming revenue grew $64 million less than it did in 2018.
“The reason that the total market was able to grow as fast as it did in spite of this is because downloads and physical fell by $0.4 billion less than in 2018,” MIDiA said in its blog post. “So, ironically, it was the improved performance of legacy formats that enabled streaming’s performance to be good enough to drive 11.4% growth.”
The report also found strong results for independent labels and indie artist direct revenue. Combined, they generated $7 billion in 2019, or 32.5% of the global total. Artists direct was the fastest-growing segment of the market, with a 32.1% increase.