Paid streaming was delivered via 100 million subscriptions for the first time in history, increasing total
revenue in 2024 by 3% to $17.7 billion (estimated retail value). This from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)’s 2024 Year-end Revenue Report.
As illustrated below, streaming now accounts for 84% of recorded music revenues, straggled by physical recordings (11%), downloads (2%), and synchronization revenue (2%)
We see a three-year growth chart illustrating a steady incremental march upward in music moneymaking from streaming:
There has been a steady march upward in U.S. paid music subscription accounts, marching upward by about 33 percent over five years:
The centerpiece of the RIAA’s reporting is its instantly recognizable color-coded chart of recorded music revenue over five-plus decades, starting in 1973. There are two of them. The first, which is pure growth with no adjustment for inflations, reveals a fascinating graphical representation of powerful upsurge, dizzying collapse, and a towering recovery which has sent the streaming dollar count galloping over the past 20 years:
The green highlights represent several types of streaming. Dark greed is for paid subscriptions to services like Spotify.
The alternate view, which represents revenue adjusted for inflation, reveals an industry treading water for four years (2021 – 2024) after the roller coaster ride of the CD era.
The green bars illustrate how streaming has saved and stabilized the U.S. recorded music market. The orange bars show the dramatic money-making power of CD, and its precipitous decline over a dozen years.
