US music industry report: streaming services the big winners
Data analysis company BuzzAngle has issued a new report on music consumption in the US. The 2016 survey confirms a firm shift toward streaming, while physical song and album sales keep declining. The major findings:
Streaming the big money spinner
BuzzAngle reports a continued explosion of audio streaming in the US for 2016. The percentage of subscription streams rose from 62 to 75 percent of the total year on year.
Unique songs
Over 28 million unique songs were streamed in the US in 2016 - 7.7 million songs were purchased, and 1.4 million unique albums were bought over the same period.
Drake topping the list
Rapper Drake is artist of the year with over 6.1 million in total album consumption units. "One Dance" is the song of the year with 5.6 million units bought in the US in 2016.
Pop beats hip hop
Pop music was the top genre in total music consumption last year. It managed to edge out hip-hop & rap. The top-growing genre, however, was dance ( up 35 percent over 2015).
The rise of vinyl
BuzzAngle said vinyl album sales in the US were up a staggering 25.9 percent year on year. By contrast, CD album sales dropped by 14 percent last year.
Fresh trend, fresh money
The decline in physical album sales is more than compensated by the shift to subscription-based streaming, resulting in higher average revenue per user and more profitability for the US music industry.