The History of Recording Industry Sales, 1973-2010

The following shipment figures are from the RIAA, dating back to 1973. The first shows album unit sales across four formats: 8-tracks, vinyl, CDs, and digital albums. The second shows singles across four formats: CD-singles, cassette singles (or &#8216…

Podcasts Are Absolutely Exploding — But Just 17% of Episodes Contain Music

Although podcasts are becoming exponentially more popular with each passing year, a recent study found that just 17 percent of podcast episodes contain at least 10 seconds of music. Podcasting is clearly a high-growth segment, though there hasn’t…

Media Streaming Poised to Spike 60 Percent Amidst Coronavirus Pandemic

With a significant portion of the United States and the world remaining indoors due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, media streaming—including television, movies, music, and more—is expected to increase by approximately 60 percent, according to …

2019’s US-Based Streaming Music Market Was Larger Than the Entire Recorded Music Market in 2017

According to a detailed report shared this (Tuesday) afternoon by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), 2019 brought a substantial uptick in US-based music industry revenue. Streaming catapulted the double-digit gains; the format is now…

New Study Shows Country Music Fans Want More Female Artist Airtime

A new study reveals country music fans want equal playtime for men and women. CMT commissioned Coleman Insights to survey 1,000 radio listeners ages 25-54. Respondents were chosen from those who said they generally liked or loved country music. The stu…

VR Headset Sales Drop Over 40% Compared to Last Year – Why?

A Nielsen subsidiary has published VR sales figures for 2019 – the data includes AR, VR, and hybrid headsets. The PlayStation VR and Oculus Quest were the two most popular VR headsets last year. But sales this year are down 42.5% since 2018 between tho…

Millennials Are Twice as Likely to Listen to Albums Than Boomers — Seriously

Millennials — not Baby Boomers — are the biggest listeners of albums, according to a recent study. According to a study conducted by Deezer, millennials are two times likelier than baby boomers to play albums.  8,000 music fans — an even number of Amer…

Universal Music Starts an In-House Data Division to ‘Gain an Edge’

Universal Music UK has announced that it is launching a new division that will focus on data science, research and strategy. According to Billboard, the company is opening the division in the hope that it will give both its artists and its labels a dis…

US-Based Music Streams Cross 1 Trillion In 2019, Up 25% Over 2018

A new music industry report suggests US-based music streams broke one trillion for the first time in 2019. The previous high for US-based music streams was set in 2018 with 809.5 billion, representing a 25% increase. Music streaming accounted for 85% o…

German Music Industry Breaks the 100 Billion Stream Barrier

In the wake of a report from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) that there were more than 100 billion music streams in the United Kingdom, GfK Entertainment and the German Music Industry Association (BVMI) announced that the same thing had happene…