Digital dominance

Music from digital sources – streaming services and downloads of recordings – accounted for nearly two-thirds of sales of recorded music in 2014, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

For the first time last year, music streaming subscriptions accounted for more revenue than sales of compact discs. Both continued to be outpaced by purchases of digital downloads.

As tabulated by RIAA, streaming revenue was $1.87 billion. CD sales brought in $1.85 billion. Download purchases, which dipped last year, still accounted for $2.58 billion.

Vinyl-disc and tape purchases, not tabulated separately, apparently nudged “physical” music sales to a larger share of the market than streaming, judging by the pie chart in this report from cnet’s Joan E. Solsman:

http://www.cnet.com/news/streaming-music-drowns-out-us-cd-sales-for-the-first-time/

(via www.artsjournal.com)