Music streaming accounts for 83% of the industry in 2020

After the pandemic and containment year, we have seen how live events have been canceled or postponed, dealing a blow to the entertainment industry. However, the music managed to find a way, Thanks to broadcast platforms, Not only to maintain positive numbers, but even to grow in spite of all difficulties.

According to the latest report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), total recorded music revenue grew 9.2% to $ 12.2 billion in 2020. This format is to create A total of $ 10.1 billion in total revenue in 2020, Up from $ 8.9 billion in 2019. Thus, 2020 marks the fifth consecutive year of growth on this front.

But not only that. Which is that if we dig a little more into these numbers, we can see that Streaming platforms account for up to 83% of the industry’s total revenue, With continued decline in CD sales and digital downloads, and the strange surprise of vinyl, which continues to maintain its renewed success.

Among the major streaming platforms, Spotify and Apple Music were the largest contributors. Just generating a total of $ 7,000 million in revenue between the two, By the average number of subscriptions (in the US) increased from 60.4 million to 75.5 million users.

Some positive numbers are not representative of the entire sector

However, one crucial question that the RIAA report does not answer is Where does all this money end up?. The music streaming platform model is known to pay generously to the world’s most important artists, but it’s hard for young indie artists to make a living from their music.

A situation that has unfortunately always existed in this industry, but has only worsened during these months of the pandemic.

There is an entire subsection of professionals who have been unable to participate in the economic growth the industry has experienced this year due to It was impossible for the musicians and groups to tour. This is something that Band Camp platforms have tried to solve, but it will take other companies to consider Fairer business models Before the problem gets better.

Thus, it is expected, as we are already seeing in parts of the world such as Australia, thanks to the current campaigns and advances in vaccination, that we will be able to gradually return to the long-awaited normality.