Music Industry Revenue Up in 2017, Digital Album Sales Succumb to Physical

Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, takes a brief look at RIAA’s 2017 Year-End findings

The Recording Industry Association of America’s year-end Revenue Statistics came out last week, detailing the state of music sales in the United States in 2017. Indicating that the industry as a whole has grown in revenue from the previous year, even though albums sales continue to lag.

According to the RIAA, music industry revenue is at the highest it’s been in a decade. At an estimated $8.7 billion retail value and $5.9 billon wholesale value, the industry grew 16.5% and 12.6%, respectively, over 2016. The chart report also marks that this is the second year in a row that revenues grew, the first time since 1999 that this has happened.

The biggest platform for this growth was streaming services. Making up 65% of revenue in 2017, paid subscriptions, streaming radio and ad-supported on-demand services made an astounding 43% leap from 2016. Paid subscriptions in particular made for much of that domination, growing 63% and making up 47% of the music industry’s revenue, approximately $4 billion.

With the growth of streaming, sales across the board have been on the decline. The RIAA found that digital sales were hit the hardest, dropping 25% over all in 2017, making up $1.3 billion in revenue. This goes for both singles and albums, which individually declined 25% and 24%, respectively. The RIAA remarked in the report that this is the first time since 2011 that physical format revenue exceeded that of digital.

In contrast, the physical album sales decline wasn’t as drastic as it was in years past. In 2017 there was only a 4% decline in value over the last year, making up $1.5 billion of the industry’s revenue. The decline is slower than it has been in previous years, thanks mostly to the vinyl resurgence, up 10% in 2017, as CD shipments once again fell, this time by 6%.

Earlier this year, Buzzangle and Nielsen released their year-end, coming to many of the same conclusions as the RIAA. Both had reported that there was an increase in music consumption in 2017 sparked by an all-time high in streaming. They also picked up on the drop in digital downloads and less-drastic decline of physical sales.

According to the RIAA’s 2017 Revenue Statistics, the music industry has been picking up a little in the last couple of years. Revenue is at its highest in a decade, thanks to streaming’s increased foothold on the industry, now making up the largest part of the music industry’s revenue. Even though physical and digital sales continue to struggle, it’s slowed pace of decline and the increase in vinyl sales come as a shimmer of hope for physical music lovers.

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Physical music continues to live on at Vinyl Bay 777. Long Island’s music outlet has a wide selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, music DVDs and memorabilia to choose from. We have thousands of titles in a variety of genres sure to satisfy all music lovers. Browse our growing selection in store at our Plainview location or shop online at vinylbay777.com to see what’s new at Vinyl Bay 777 today!