US music revenues grew 18% in first half of 2019 driven by a 30% rise in streaming subscriptions, according to the RIAA, the US recording industry association. Paid subscriptions exceeded 60 million for the first time with total revenues growing 18% to $5.4 Bn. Streaming now accounts for 80% of music industry revenues.
Streaming
Revenues from streaming music grew 26% to $4.3 billion for the first half of 2019 with paid subscriptions continuing to be the biggest source of revenue for recorded music. Year on year growth of 31% brought total subscription revenues to $3.3 billion. Paid subscriptions alone made up 62% of overall industry revenues, and they accounted for 77% of US streaming music revenues for the first half of 2019.
The continued rapid increase in the number of paid subscriptions was the biggest driver of growth. For the first half of 2019, the number of paid subscriptions to full on-demand streaming services grew 30% to 61.1 million. That represents an average of more than 1 million new subscriptions per month over the last 12 months. Advertising supported on-demand revenues for music grew 25% year on year to $427 million, but still only accounted for 10% of overall streaming revenues. This category includes services like YouTube, Vevo, the ad-supported versions of Spotify, and other similar services that according to reports from Nielsen and Border City streamed hundreds of billions of songs to fans in the US in the first half of the year.
Revenues from digital and customized radio services such as SiriusXM and internet radio stations were $552 million in 1H 2019, up 5% versus the first half of the prior year.
Digital Downloads
While streaming revenues continued to increase, revenue gains were partially offset by declines in sales of digital units. Revenues from digital downloads fell 18% in 1H 2019 to $462 million. Individual track sales revenues were down 16% year on year, and digital album revenues declined 23%. The category accounted for just 8.6% of total industry revenues in 1H 2019, a smaller percentage than physical formats.
Physical Products
Net revenues from physical products bucked the recent trend in unit sales and grew 5% to $485 million in 1H 2019. Vinyl albums grew 13% to $224 million, but still only accounted for 4% of total revenues in 1H 2019. Revenues from shipments of physical products made up 9% of the industry total for the period.
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