Streaming Rebound

It wouldn’t be an edition of The Gen without some serious stats? According to new figures released by the RIAA, revenue from subscription music services in the US more than doubled in the US in the first half of this year, driving overall market growth of 8.1%.

Paid-for on-demand platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify Premium and Tidal generated revenues of $1.013bn in the six-month period. This represents growth of 112% year on year and offsets sales declines from downloads, CDs and vinyl.

This will no doubt result in leading pundits publishing think pieces such as: ‘Was the vinyl revival over the moment they started flogging Iron Maiden records in supermarkets?’ (Short answer: Probably).

Of course, Apple Music only launched at the end of June 2015, meaning last year’s figures barely included it, but it does seem to suggest that the launch of Apple Music has given the industry a serious leg up in the first half of the year at least. The value of the average paid-for US monthly music subscription has gone up: from $8.77 in the first half of 2015 to$9.23 in the equivalent period of this year.

As pointed out by The Verge, if the numbers continue along such lines for the rest of the year, 2016 will be the first time the music industry has seen its revenue increase year over year since the late 1990s.

Are we finally approaching the much talked about streaming Tipping Point?

Find out more and download the full RIAA report here.