Music Streaming – Subscriptions Win

After years of stagnation or decline, the global music industry finally returned to growth last year. According to IFPI, recorded music revenues increased from $14.5 in 2014 to 15 billion in the past year, mainly thanks to continued growth in streaming subscriptions. By the end of 2015, paid subscribers to music streaming services had grown to 68 million worldwide, with no ceiling in sight.

Streaming revenues amounted to $2.9 billion last year, with subscription services accounting for roughly 80 percent of that total. While personalized, ad-supported online radio services such as Pandora certainly helped blaze the trail for music streaming, it was on-demand services such as Spotify and Apple Music that really pushed streaming to mainstream adoption.

Looking at the growth of subscription streaming revenues, it comes as no surprise that more and more companies want a piece of the pie. Both Amazon and Pandora are reportedly close to launching services of their own, making an already highly-competitive market even more crowded.