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RIAA: Music streaming revenues boosted by Covid

September 15, 2020

By Chris Forrester

Covid-19 might be keeping millions working from home but it is proving to be good news for streaming music providers.

Pay-radio broadcaster SiriusXM has already told the market that it expects to add a net 700,000 subscribers this year, and significantly over and above its previous target.

Now the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) says the trend globally is positive for streaming services such as Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music. Data from Spain shows a 4 per cent increase (wholesale) in the first half of this year. It is similar in Germany which enjoyed a 4.8 per cent (retail) improvement by the end of June.

But the USA’s numbers are potentially the best of all, with RIAA saying that retail revenues grew 5.6 per cent during 1H/2020 to a value of $5.65 billion. The wholesale equivalent – where the cash flows to the record label and artists – grew 5.1 per cent to $3.7 billion.  That 5.6 per cent rise represents an improvement of $302 million compared with the same period in 2019.

The overall total streaming numbers, including pay-radio, ad-supported audio as well as on-demand services, grew 12 per cent to $4.80 billion, and up $512.3 million on the same period last year.

“If streaming in the US can keep up that pace in the second half of 2020, it will see the format comfortably generate over a billion dollars more than it did in 2019 across the course of the year,” says the RIAA.

Categories: Articles, Digital Radio, Markets, Research

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