Music streaming revenue hit $1.87 billion in the U.S. in 2014, nudging past CD sales which were $1.85 billion over the past 12 months. The rapid growth of streaming services including Spotify, Pandora, Rdio, YouTube Music has pushed streaming music into relevance. While digital downloads still dominate the market its a rapidly changing market that streaming services could dominate in the near future.
The report from the Recording Industry Association of America reveals telling data of how relevant services like Spotify are. It shows artist like Taylor Swift cannot keep her music off Spotify forever as CD sales slip further, and digital downloads cannot hold on the market forever. Apple has also rumored to release a streaming service after their purchase of Beats and Beats streaming music.
Artist claim that streaming music is killing their revenue streams, but they are only transitioning from digital downloads and CD sales. Apple releasing a streaming service won’t turn around the music market, but instead it will further expand the music market.
Tell us in the comments below what you think about streaming music revenue surpassing CD sales.