The Recording Industry Association of America has announced that music streams comprised a considerable portion of total revenue sales last year.
The RIAA released the revenue numbers for recorded music in 2023, and the charts show there was an 8 percent growth building to $17.1 billion, "the highest top line number," according to a press release. Last year's numbers were the eighth consecutive time revenue had increased.
One of the most impressive tidbits from the report was that streaming was responsible for 84 percent of total revenue, totaling $14.4 billion, and a record-setting 96.8 million people paid subscriptions for on-demand services.
Revenue in 2023 from paid subscriptions rose to $11.2 billion, which made up for "78 percent of streaming revenues and nearly two-thirds of total revenues." Physical formats saw an increase as well, going up 11 percent to $1.9 billion. Vinyl revenue saw a 17th consecutive year of growth, going up to 10 percent last year.
"Recorded music keeps reaching new heights as labels' 'all of the above' commitment to meet fans everywhere they want to be continued to pay off for the entire music community," said RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Glazier. "Licensing of social networks, fitness apps, and short form video are adding new value…and physical sales once again boomed, with vinyl records delivering yet another double-digit increase.'
Glazier continued, "For artists, songwriters, and fans, this strong and sustained growth signals a time of incredible opportunity—with new formats, styles, and sounds rising up across innovative platforms and emerging ways to listen. As new services continue to get fully licensed at rates reflecting music's incredible value, revenue for artists and songwriters will only continue to grow."
