The US recorded music market grew a bit more in the first half of 2024 — but not by much. The retail value of total industry revenue reached $8.65 billion, according to RIAA data released Thursday (Aug. 29), thanks mostly to a modest gain in streaming revenue and a jump in vinyl sales.
While revenue for the period is a record for the first half of the year, it was up just 3.9% from the year-ago period. The US market has returned to a more laborious trajectory, with high single- and double-digit gains in the mirror. In contrast, revenue grew by 8.8% and 9.0% in the first half of 2022 and 2023, respectively. In the first half of 2021, as paid and ad-supported streaming benefited from pandemic-era lockdowns that drove consumers to their devices, revenue rose 27.0%.
Vinyl EP and LP sales totaled 24.3 million units, up 10.7%, and were valued at $739.9 million, up 17%. Other physical formats also won, but the distance between them and vinyl grew. CD sales improved just 0.3% to $236.7 million. The other category — which includes cassettes, CD singles, vinyl singles, DVD audio and SACD — improved 66.6% to $13.2 million.
Physical sales increased its share of total revenue to 11.4% from 10.5% in the year-ago period and 10.2% in the first half of 2022. Vinyl has doubled its market share in five years, reaching 8, 5% of total US revenue — up from 4.2% in the first half of 2020.
Streaming still dominates industry revenue and delivered the largest dollar profit of all categories. Total streaming revenue increased 3.8% to $7.3 billion and accounted for 84.1% of total revenue, flat from last year's period. Paid subscription revenue reached $5.23 billion, up 5.1%, leading all streaming categories by a wide margin. The average number of subscribers reached 99 million, an increase of just 2.6%, suggesting that record companies benefited from price increases by Spotify and other services.
Other streaming segments have had less of an impact or have lost ground over the past year. Revenue from paid tiered subscriptions fell 4.1% to $503 million. (Limited-tier services have limited catalogs, interactivity restrictions or other factors that differ from premium subscription plans.) Ad-supported on-demand revenue rose 2.5% to $899 million. SoundExchange distributions were $517 million, up 3.9%. Other ad-supported streaming services — the legal streaming services not distributed by SoundExchange — fell 2.7 percent to $159.1 million.
Download sales, once the cornerstone of the US market, fell in share for the 14th straight year to just 2% of industry revenue. Total download sales fell 15.8% to $189.7 million. Track and digital album sales were down 16.1% and 18.5%, respectively. Ringtones and ringbacks fell 51.1% to $2.9 million. The other digital category, which includes newsstands and music video downloads, rose 22.0% to $17.1 million.
Sync rights fell 9.8% to $200.9 million, in sharp contrast to significant gains of 25.3% and 29.9% in the first half of 2022 and 2023, respectively.
In a statement, RIAA president/CEO Mitch Glazer highlighted revenue reaching $8.7 million and the evolving music ecosystem. “For multiple licensing avenues from fitness apps to short-form videos, artists and labels are embracing innovation with responsible partners so more Americans can engage with the music they love, whenever and wherever they choose,” he said. “This continued growth fuels innovation and reflects the incredible value of music, laying the foundation for a healthy creative ecosystem where the visions of artists and songwriters can flourish across generations.”
