RIAA Reports Highest-Ever $15 Billion in Recorded Music Revenue

The recording industry group’s annual report notes streaming revenues climbed 24 percent from 2020

The word news and the Pitchfork logo

The Recording Industry Association of America released its 2021 year-end revenue statistics, reporting that overall revenue for recorded music had reached a record $15 billion, bolstered by the continued growth of streaming and vinyl sales. This year’s streaming revenues—paid subscriptions, ad-supported streaming services, digital and customized radio, Facebook and digital fitness app licensing, and for the first time, TikTok—grew 24% in 2021 to a total of $12.4 billion, accounting for 83% of total revenues, similar to 2020. Check out the full report below.

Vinyl continues to make gains for the 15th consecutive year; even as overall physical sales stagnated in 2020, with many retail outlets closed to the public during nationwide lockdowns, revenue rose almost 30% that year, and 61%—to $1.0 billion—in 2021, accounting for 63% of revenues from physical formats. The last time vinyl records exceeded $1 billion in sales was 1986.

Other big gains were made in ad-supported on demand streaming revenues (like Spotify’s free tier, YouTube, and Pandora), up nearly 47% to 1.76 billion from 1.2 billion in 2020. And from 2019 to 2021, the average number of paid subscriptions grew 39%, while paid subscription revenues grew 40% over the same two-year period.

As streaming and vinyl grow year after year, download revenues continue to slide, down 11.7% to 586M from 664M in 2020. And while CD sales jumped 21% after dropping in 2020—the first time since the 80s that vinyl outsold CDs—they still haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, while overall revenue has never been higher, the RIAA says the industry is still 40% smaller than it was at its peak in 1999 when adjusted for inflation.

Content

This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.

You May Also Like

Big Daddy Kane and KRS-One’s VERZUZ Battle: Here’s What Happened

News Big Daddy Kane and KRS-One’s VERZUZ Battle: Here’s What Happened A…

Tommy Lee Sued For Allegedly Sexually Assaulting Woman In Helicopter

Tommy Lee forced himself on a woman in a helicopter cockpit ……

The Sadies’ Dallas Good Dies at 48

News The Sadies’ Dallas Good Dies at 48 Good, who co-founded the…

Boygenius Announce Hiatus: “We’re Going Away for the Foreseeable Future”

Boygenius played two acoustic sets last night at the Smell in downtown…