R&B and hip-hop are now the most popular overall music genres
According to a Nielsen study, as of the first half of 2017, R&B and hip-hop are now the most popular music genres, displacing rock.
streaming audio
Is the MP3 really dead? (The answer’s “no.”)
The Fraunhofer Institute recently ended collecting license fees on the MP3 format, declaring the format “dead.” But is it really at its end?
Streaming music is now the majority of US music industry revenue
Streaming music now makes up a majority of all US music industry revenues. Still, revenue’s below the industry’s late 90’s high point in sales.
R&B, hip-hop most popular streaming music genres
A Nielsen study confirms that streaming music eclipsed digital music sales in 2016. Meanwhile, R&B and hip-hop were the dominant streaming genres.
Amazon debuts its stand-alone music streaming service
Amazon has debuted its own streaming music service, Amazon Music Unlimited, to compete with Spotify and Apple Music. But will the features and pricing be enough of a draw for customers?
Audio streaming for first half of 2016 doubles from first half of 2015
Nielsen has released figures for music sales for the first half of 2016. Along with recent news on Spotify’s growth comes news that audio streaming usage has nearly doubled from the first half of 2015. Music video streaming (presumably mainly YouTube) has also risen, though not by nearly as much. The only physical media sales growth has been in vinyl.
Spotify has twice the paying customers of Apple Music
In an update on a post I wrote a few months ago, Spotify’s 30 million paying customers makes it the top streaming music service for paying users. Despite Apple’s best efforts, it’s managed to only accumulate 15 million paying subscribers to date, trailing a distant second. The other services trail some distance behind, as shown in … Read more
Radio still dominates in cars?
Despite the dominance of streaming audio and digital music everywhere else (ignoring the improbable resurgence of vinyl), there’s supposedly one place where old-fashioned AM/FM radio still dominates, and that’s in cars. A survey of drivers by Edison Research states that 84% of drivers use the radio at least part of the time. Surprisingly, CD players are … Read more
Digital music outsells physical formats worldwide
Last month, it was reported that streaming music has finally become the dominant form of paid music in the United States. The rest of the world isn’t lax on moving away from physical media, either. The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the RIAA”s international cousin) reports that digital music sales are now at 45% of music … Read more
Spotify now has 30 million paying subscribers
As I wrote about recently, Spotify is the most popular streaming service. However, it’s also got the most paying customers (30 million) out of the major music services, and by a hefty margin. This is in spite of Apple heavily advertising its Apple Music service, as well as other major and minor rival services. Tidal, … Read more