The RIAA has confirmed that, for the first time, streaming music online has made more money than purchasing CD’s in 2014. Streaming services has brought in $1.87 billion in revenue, while CD’s trail with $1.85 billion. Digital downloads from services such as iTunes was still the breadwinner making $2.6 billion, which is 8.5% less than in 2013.
Vinyl albums have increased sales up 50% from last year bringing in a total of $321 million.
Although the music industry as a whole saw a .5% decline in revenue, Streaming music services have seen a 29% increase in revenue in 2014, which is the only source to grow for the year. The combination of CD and Vinyl purchases brought in 32% of sales. Digital downloads is still the preferred purchase of choice. Digital downloads brings in 37% of revenues, which keep in mind, streaming is catching up and could possible exceed digital downloads by the end of 2015. Synchronization brought in 3% revenue and ringtones brought in the remaining 1%.
The most recent example of how efficient online streaming has become is Kendrick Lamar’s most recent album, To Pimp a Butterfly. Lamar’s album had a record 9.6 million streams on the day of it’s release. The following day, Kendrick had set a new record when To Pimp a Butterfly had streamed 9.8 million times. This is an impressive feature, as just from streaming alone, Lamar had reportedly made about $1 million just 24 hours.
(Source)
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