Music Streaming Services Generated One Trillion Plays This Year

Following the invention of Napster, the music industry immediately began to take a dive when music consumers had a way to access music for free. As the downloading increased and the relevancy of the CD as well as sales plummeted, the industry began to panic until a new media platform swooped in to reshape the industry. While heavily debated regarding their pay out fairness and free-tier strategies, music streaming services arrived proving that people are willing to pay for music if it's offered in a convenient, accessible and anesthetically beautiful way. From YouTube to Pandora to Spotify to the just born Apple Music, music streaming is an industry reality.

A new report from NextBigSound reveals how rapidly music streaming is growing with a staggering statistic: it tracked more than a trillion online plays in the first six months of 2015 alone. ONE TRILLION. Included in that number are streams across YouTube, Vevo (where they accounted for overlap), Vimeo, Spotify, Rdio, SoundCloud, and Pandora. While artists like Taylor Swift continue to question Spotify's policies and platform while praising others; the truth remains that the more music consumers stream, the greater the musicians' piece of the streaming pie will grow.

Read the breakdown of what all this data means over at NextBigSound. Also read how music streaming is affecting indie labels courtesy of Pigeons & Planes' new Inside Track feature with industry insiders.