The global music business is undeniably in a period of perpetual change — no sooner does one trend appear to emerge than another usurps it — and, despite new digital formats matching physical revenue for the first time ever earlier this year (and consequently leaving it in the dust), the industry still finds way to pull a surprise or two out of its hat.
Take, for example, a new report by the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA), which has found that the humble vintage format of vinyl is, in 2015, actually more valuable as a market than ad-supported (i.e. free) online streaming.
As The Verge reports, vinyl music sales brought in almost $US60 million (about $86.2 million) more than ad-backed streaming over the first six months of 2015, raking in $US221.8 million — or about a 52% increase year-on-year — between January and June, while ad-supported/free streaming, such as on YouTube, Vevo and Spotify's entry package, brought in $162.7 million, or a 27% rise year-on-year.
"The data continues to reflect the story of a business undergoing an enormous transition," RIAA chairman and chief executive Cary Sherman told The Verge.
"The product of music and the extraordinary roster of artists represented by today's music labels remains in high demand … at the same time, intense demand and billions of streams does not always equal fair market rates or a fair playing field."
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That said, the wider breakdown of music-industry revenue "now consists of three near-equal parts", namely physical, streaming and permanent downloads, the last of which is now the biggest slice of the market, accounting for about 40% of total revenue across the board. However, with streaming on the upswing — it too now eclipses physical sales and is on the way to start eating into some of that sweet downloads pie — the present make-up is unlikely to last too long.
Additionally, the present dominant value of vinyl — regardless of how fleeting or otherwise it may turn out to be — is not the only milemarker to be found in the RIAA's new report, however; as The Verge notes, digital streaming — that is, not just ad-supported services but digital radio and subscription services too — brought in more than $1 billion over the six months to June this year, the first time such a result has been achieved. It really is an online world; we're just living in it.
