The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), released its year-end revenue report for 2017 last week, and for the first time since 2011, sales of CDs and vinyl are outselling digital downloads.
“Revenues from digital downloads fell 25 percent, to $1.3 billion, in 2017. For the first time since 2011, revenues from physical products exceeded those from digital downloads. Revenues from sales of track downloads were down 25 percent, and digital album revenue decreased 24 percent versus 2016.”
Paid music subscriptions, and services like Spotify, Amazon, Tidal, Apple Music, Pandora and others, grew by more than 50 percent.