2021 US music revenue: Streaming still dominates; physical media 11% of sales
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has released its annual look at US music revenue for 2021. It seems things have slightly bounced back from 2020, when a lot of music stores had shut down or limited hours due to the pandemic.
Here’s a chart summarizing the RIAA’s 2021 US music revenue figures by percentage:
2021 US music revenue figures. (RIAA)
Digital formats: Streaming is still the dominant music format
Apple Music. (Apple / screenshot by author)
Overall, US music revenue in 2021 grew 23% to $15 billion, thanks to the strength of streaming services. However, despite being a record high in terms of dollars, after adjusting for inflation, it’s still down 37% from CDs’ 1999 all-time high.
Just like last year, streaming made up 83% of US music revenue ($12.4 billion), as the de facto music format. $9.5 billion came from paid subscriptions; most of the rest came from ad-supported services, such as the free tier of Spotify.
Meanwhile, digital downloads (i.e. buying MP3s from iTunes/Apple Music, Bandcamp, etc.) made up only 4% of music sales, the only category to see a decline in sales. Download revenue dropped 12% from 2020 to $587 million. Download sales peaked in 2012, when it made up 43% of overall revenue.
That’s quite a decline in the prominence of MP3 sales. It turned out $10 for streaming access to all music for a month was more appealing to most people than paying $10 for a single digital album, or $15-$20 for a single CD.
Physical formats: CDs bounced back a bit; vinyl still outsells CDs
Image by Aline Ponce from Pixabay
CDs saw their first rise in sales since 2004, growing 21% to $584 million, making up about 4% of all music sales. Presumably, stores resuming post-2020 normalcy led to the rise in sales. However, vinyl still dominates physical music sales (at 63% of revenue); in 2021, sales rose 61% to $1 billion, or 7% of all music sales. It’s the first time vinyl hit the billion dollar mark since 1986.
Overall, physical media made up 11% of music sales, up from 9% in 2020. While CDs (and vinyl) still have their fans, the era where physical media dominated music sales is over.
Personal music usage
As I stated last year, my music listening is all digital these days. For most of 2021, I used Apple Music through a free six-month trial. After it expired, I gave Spotify (via a Black Friday deal) a go; however, their recent controversy with backing Joe Rogan’s podcast led me to not renew. I switched back (via another deal) to Apple Music, which is what I’m using now. I also have my old MP3 collection on hand, including some albums not available on Apple Music (or other streaming services).
What do you use for music listening?