Recorded music revenue in the United States will grow 7.7% in 2023 from the previous year, reaching a record high of $17.1 billion at retail, according to the RIAA. Within that headline number, $14.4 billion — or 84% — came from streaming, which was also up 8% from 2022.
It's the eighth consecutive year of revenue growth for the US business, and the rounded 8% increase over last year's $15.9 billion represents an uptick from 2022, when the business grew 6.1% over the previous year . And while the title marks the company's third straight year of record revenue — previously set in 1999, when revenue reached $14.6 billion before Napster took hold — when adjusted for inflation, it's still down a lot down from the rate in 1999. which would be $26.9 billion at current prices.
However, the US business has grown steadily in recent years, and streaming has become a fairly stable slice of the revenue pie: This is the fourth year in a row that total streaming accounted for between 83% and 84% of revenue. showing that the stream flow and the overall revenue picture are gradually increasing. Within the streaming category, paid subscription streaming accounted for $11.2 billion, or 78% of total streaming revenue, up 9% from $10.2 billion last year. and the average number of full-level subscriptions in the US increased 5.7% to 96.8 million, from 91.6 million last year.
But revenue from tiered subscriptions — the bucket into which Amazon Prime, Pandora Plus, fitness services and other paid subscriptions that don't include access to full on-demand catalogs fall — fell 4 percent to $1.0 billion. Meanwhile, revenue from ad-supported streaming services rose 2% to $1.9 billion from $1.8 billion in 2022. And revenue from digital and custom radio, which includes services like SiriusXM distributions and SoundExchange, grew 8% year-over-year to $1.3 billion. Synch revenue grew at a similar pace, up 7.4% to $411 million.
In terms of sales, digital downloads continued their slide, with revenue down 12.2% year over year to $434.1 million, now accounting for just 3% of the industry total. On the other hand, physical sales rose again, 10.5% to $1.91 billion (from $1.73 billion last year). That was largely due to growth in vinyl sales, which rose 10.3% year-over-year to $1.35 billion in revenue — up from $1.22 billion in 2022, as units jumped to 43.2 million from 40.5 million. Revenue from CD sales also rose by double digits, rising 11.3% to $537.1 million from $482.6 million in 2022, even though the number of CDs sold declined. The format saw 37 million sales in 2023, up from 37.7 million the previous year, indicating a year-over-year average unit price increase.
Overall, the percentage split between digital revenue and physical revenue — 89% to 11% — has remained essentially the same since 2018, with only 1% swings one way or the other in the intervening years. In wholesale, total revenue rose 7% to $11 billion from $10.3 billion last year, marking the second straight year the metric topped the $10 billion plateau.
