Streaming music services such as Spotify have eclipsed CD sales and are closing in on digital downloads as the largest source of revenue in the music industry’s biggest market, according to new data from the Recording Industry Association of America.
US revenues from subscription streaming brands such as Spotify and Rhapsody and streaming radio services including SiriusXM hit $1.87bn in the US in 2014, a 29 per cent increase on 2013 and equivalent to 27 per cent of total music industry revenues.
Sales of CDs slipped 12.7 per cent to $1.85bn, even as the decline in total sales of physical formats was cushioned by the renaissance of vinyl records, which accelerated in 2014, with a near 50 per cent jump in sales of LPs to $315m....