It's not exactly shocking that vinyl sales have greatly surpassed that of streaming revenues given the insane resurgence of the format, but the numbers you're about to see might still be a little bit shocking.
From January to June, ad-based streaming services brought in $162.7 million in revenue. This includes Spotify's free service, YouTube, Vevo and pretty much every streaming service you can think of with ads on it. So what about vinyl and EP sales? They've generated a collective $221.8 million and that's just from January to June. These numbers represent a 52-percent year-over-year increase for vinyl and EP sales, while streaming represents 27-percent according to The Verge.
RIAA Chairman and CEO Cary Sherman had this to say about the numbers, according to a press release.
“The data continues to reflect the story of a business undergoing an enormous transition. There are many positive signs: continuing the trend from 2014, wholesale revenues for the first half of 2015 increased. And revenues from streaming music services continue to grow at a healthy double digit rate. The product of music and the extraordinary roster of artists represented by today’s music labels remains in high demand. That is the bedrock of a successful future.
“At the same time, intense demand and billions of streams does not always equal fair market rates or a fair playing field. Addressing that is an essential element of fulfilling the enormous promise of today’s digital marketplace.”
I'm glad the physical format is being kept alive. Personally, I'm a big CD fan because they're portable and I can rip 'em to my computer. Viva la physical copies!
