Mark Gillespie In the ten years between 1999 and 2009, annual recorded music revenues in the U.S. (the world’s biggest market) collapsed from $14.6 billion to $6.3 billion.
Piracy in the form of digital file sharing was to blame. By 2019, revenues had recovered to $11.1 billion. Streaming was cheered as the industry’s savior.This is a story that’s been told and retold in the years since streaming platforms first arrived.
Most recently, it’s come up repeatedly during the U.K. government’s inquiry into the economics of music streaming. Streaming technology, it’s said, has helped to combat music piracy and re-energize a once-flagging industry.
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