Music industry retail revenue (YoY growth) according to the RIAA:
1) 2011 – $7.1B (↑ 1%)
2) 2012 – $7.0B (↓ 1%)
3) 2013 – $7.0B (↑ 0%)
4) 2014 – $6.7B (↓ 4%)
5) 2015 – $6.7B (↑ 0%)
6) 2016 – $7.6B (↑ 13%)
7) 2017 – $8.8B (↑ 16%)
8) 2018 – $9.7B (↑ 10%)
9) 2019 – $11.1B (↑ 14%)
10) 2020 – $12.2B (↑ 10%)

Source of music industry retail revenue (YoY growth):
1) Streaming – 83%
2) Physical – 9%
3) Digital downloads – 6%
4) Synch – 2%

Streaming revenue for the music industry (YoY growth):
1) 2016 – $4.0B
2) 2017 – $5.7B (↑ 43%)
3) 2018 – $7.3B (↑ 28%)
4) 2019 – $8.9B (↑ 22%)
5) 2020 – $10.1B (↑ 13%)

Streaming subscribers for the music industry (YoY growth):
1) 2015 – 11M
2) 2016 – 23M (↑ 110%)
3) 2017 – 35M (↑ 56%)
4) 2018 – 47M (↑ 33%)
5) 2019 – 60M (↑ 29%)
6) 2020 – 76M (↑ 25%)

Big question #1: How much time do consumers spend with digital audio?

Quick answer: 94 minutes per day.

Time spent with digital audio (YoY growth) according to eMarketer:
1) 2018 – 74m
2) 2019 – 82m (↑ 11%)
3) 2020 – 89m (↑ 8%)
4) 2021P – 94m (↑ 5%)
5) 2022P – 97m (↑ 4%)

Big question #2: Which music service has the most listeners?

Quick answer: Spotify

Digital music services by monthly listeners (YoY growth) according to eMarketer:
1) Spotify – 87M (↑ 11%)
2) Pandora – 55M (↓ 5%)
3) Amazon Music – 48M (↑ 5%)
4) Apple Music – 37M (↑ 5%)

Spotify paid subscribers (YoY growth):
1) 2017 – 71M
2) 2018 – 96M (↑ 35%)
3) 2019 – 124M (↑ 29%)
4) 2020 – 155M (↑ 25%)

Big news: Spotify announced that they are launching in 80 additional markets, bringing their total to 170+.

Why this matters: The 80 markets represent 1B+ new potential customers!

More #1: Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Drivers License’ Hit No. 1 in a Week. Here’s How.

More #2: Troy Carter: ‘The music industry has to change the business model; it’s as simple as that.’

More #3: Spotify CEO Daniel Ek explains how the company plans to help artists (and itself) make money