U.S. Recorded-Music Revenue Grows Almost 10% But Vinyl Sales, Streaming Subscriptions Level Off

variety.com:

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music The U.S. music industry continued its robust growth in the first half of 2023, according to the RIAA’s latest mid-year report.

Total revenues grew 9.3% at estimated retail value, reaching an all-time first-half high of $8.4 billion; at wholesale value, revenues grew 8.3% to $5.3 billion.

Paid streaming subscriptions continued to be the strongest driver of revenue growth, according to the report, increasing by more than $550 million and growing to around 96 million subscriptions during the period.

Vinyl revenue leveled off, growing just 1% — it posted 22% growth in the same period last year — but physical formats reached their highest level since the first half of 2013, a full decade ago.