US recorded music retail revenues increased by 4% year-on-year to a total of $8.7 billion for the first half of 2024, according to new figures from trade group the RIAA. Wholesale revenues for the same period were up by 3% to $5.5 billion.
Streaming continues to power the industry, with all streaming services combined generating 84% of total US revenues. Although by far the fastest growing revenue stream at the moment is vinyl, where sales were up 17% in the first half of the year.
“Revenues from physical music formats continued to outpace all other major forms of recorded music”, the RIAA's latest stats summary notes. “Total physical revenues of $994 million were up 13% versus the prior year”.
Vinyl, up 17% to $740 million, now accounts for three quarters of physical product income. CDs make up most of the rest, with revenues from that format, the RIAA adds, being “relatively flat at $237 million in 2024”.
In the digital domain, revenue from paid-for music services like Spotify Premium and Apple Music grew by 4% to $5.7 billion, accounting for 78% of streaming income and nearly two-thirds of total recorded music revenues.
The other 22% of streaming revenue comes from a combination of what the RIAA calls ad-funded on-demand services, limited tier subscriptions, and digital and customised radio.
The ad-funded category - which includes the free tier of Spotify and user-generated content platforms like YouTube - is the biggest of those in revenue terms, with revenues in the first half of 2024 up 2% to $899 million.
Limited-tier subscriptions includes services where music is part of the proposition like Amazon Prime, more restricted paid-for music services like Pandora Plus, and music used in subscription fitness services like Peloton.
Revenue from these services was down 4% this year to $503 million. The RIAA doesn’t provide any theory for the decline, though the number of consumers subscribing to full-on music services continues to increase, up 3% this year, which might result in fewer people using more limited services.
Digital and customised radio includes platforms like Pandora, iHeart Radio and Sirius XM. Most, though not all, of this income stream flows through collecting society SoundExchange. This is a revenue stream that’s much more significant in the US than most other markets, though in the wider scheme of things it’s still quite small. Revenues were up 2% to $672 million.
It’s traditional for music industry trade groups to accompany stat packs with a few demands summarising the lobbying priorities of the sector. In the past that would have been focused on how music piracy is negatively impacting on the growth of digital music, or how user-generated content and social media platforms are negatively impacting on the growth of digital music, or how free streaming is negatively impacting on the growth of digital music.
But this is 2024, so that section is entirely focused on AI. “For the last eighteen months, the music community has collaborated through the Human Artistry Campaign to support the development of healthy policies for AI that promote responsible innovation, boost the creative economy and shape the culture in pro-human, pro-artist ways”, writes the RIAA’s VP Research Matt Bass.
“It’s vital”, he adds, “that we establish baseline AI ground rules that centre rights, responsibility and genuine creativity, allowing artists - and all of us - meaningful control over our work, our voices and our likenesses”.
He then notes that efforts to ensure that happens involve lobbying law-makers and also suing “rogue AI developers”, which - in the case of the RIAA and its major label members - means Suno and Udio, of course.
“RIAA is currently prosecuting two significant cases against venture capital funded AI music generation tools that have admitted using huge volumes of copyrighted music to ‘train’ their models without obtaining consent”, Bass writes.
Bringing that work back to the latest growth in recorded music revenues, Bass concludes, “Today’s snapshot reflects consistent growth and a hard-won sustainability in our industry as we continue hitting new record highs year after year. As we push to further strengthen and widen the foundation of rights these revenue streams are built on, we look forward to continued success and more opportunities for fans to engage with their favourite music”.