United States Recorded Music Industry Grew By Over $1 Billion in 2020

The recorded music industry in the United States grew by over $1 billion last year, jumping up by 9.2 percent to $12.15 billion on a retail basis. According to Music Business Worldwide, streaming accounted for 83 percent of this  growth, while subscriptions to music services such as Spotify and Apple Music claimed 58 percent of all record industry revenues in the country last year.

While revenues from these streaming services increased, the amount of growth that they experienced slowed considerably, reaching its lowest point since 2015. Music Business Worldwide states that the growth of music subscribers reached its highest point in 2020, however the amount of money being spent on these accounts grew at a much slower rate. The outlet reports that some services may opt for price-increases in the future, however Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has ruled out increasing prices for the United States market. Ek did confirm that the company is looking for price increases in other markets earlier this month.

The live events industry suffered massive losses last year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down most major concert tours globally. Stock such as Live Nation dropped by 50 percent, while many companies that operate within the music industry such as Conde Nast, Endeavor and AEG underwent many layoffs.

This pandemic also had an impact on major music labels such as Sony and Warner Music Group, who suffered major financial losses. Some companies, such as Morgan Waller in Texas, were unable to survive the pandemic and closed their doors permanently.