RIAA Stats on Music Streaming – Why 4G LTE and Cheaper Cloud Storage means downloads extinct

The trend towards streaming continues to accelerate, which is good news for Musicians who’ve made the switch to Streaming.

Downloads is no longer necessary based on the Nielsen Stats comparing Music Sales within the period January to June 2014 to the same period in 2013 as stated in my blog article entitled “Nielsen Stats record continued decline in Music Downloads - Developed World Streaming will catch on in Developed World once we get 4G LTE”.

The Streaming Category of Music includes the following services, which have basically made Music into a utility where you get a la Carte Serving of songs streamed to your smartphone via 4G LTE:

1.      Spotify

2.      Apple's Beats Music,

3.      Pandora

4.      Sirius XM

5.      Vevo

6.      YouTube

According to the RIAA stats as stated in “Streaming Music swiping sales from Music downloads”, published September 26, 2014 11:27 AM PDT by Joan E. Solsman, CNET News, for the first six (6) months of 2014:

1.      28% increase in US revenue from Music Streaming Services

2.      US$859 million compared to $673 million for the first six (6) months of 2013

3.      14% decline in Physical Digital Music Purchases i.e. CD's DVD's 

4.      US$898 billion in sales from Physical Digital Music Purchases i.e. CD's DVD's 

As expected, Digital downloads saw a continued decline or the first six (6) months of 2014 as predicted by Nielsen:

1.      12% decline in digital Downloads

2.      $1.3 billion in Revenue from Digital downloads

Streaming seems to have started just in the nick of time. Steaming took up the slack for the falling rate of Downloads. The contribution of Streaming has increased for the first six (6) months of 2014:

1.      US$2.2 billion of total Industry Revenue from Streaming, downloading and Physical Digital Music Purchases i.e. CD's DVD's

2.      27% of total Industry Revenue from Streaming

3.      20% of total Industry Revenue from Streaming in first six (6) months of 2013

4.      28% of total Industry Revenue from Physical Digital Music Purchases i.e. CD's DVD's

When broken down by Services, their growth in the first six (6) months of 2014 is even more dramatic:

1.      57% increase in Spotify's Free version

2.      US$165 million in revenue from Spotify's Free version

3.      23% increase in Paid subscription services, like Spotify Premium, Rhapsody or Beats Music

4.      7.8 million Subscriptions

5.      5.5 million subscriptions in the first six (6) months of 2013

RIAA Stats on Music Streaming – 4G LTE and cheaper Cloud Storage means downloads extinct

With 4G LTE and lower prices for Cloud storage, a trend even the Apple iCloud is finally following as noted in my blog article entitled “US$19.99 1TB Cloud thanks to Apple iCloud Price Drop – Apple iCloud for Windows out to counter Bad Press from Celebrity Hacking”, you can Stream your Music whenever and wherever you are on your smartphone and Tablet. Similar stats from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry indicate that streaming has benefits.

According to their stats, Streaming has resulted in a 51% increase in streaming subscription services, netting the Music Industry US$1 billion for the first time in 2013. Streaming is not just a trend for Digital Audio but also Digital Video.

It is the driving force behind the increasing popularity of Lyrics Videos as stated in my blog article entitled “YouTube and the Lyrics Videos Trend - How Lyrics Videos ride the Streaming Trend as Musicians Cash in on Sing-Along Craze”.

It’ll continue to be the money-maker for the Music Industry until Americans and the World get crazy about downloading again. The coming spread of high speed 4G LTE to the Caribbean promises the possibility of VoLTE (Voice over LTE), which heralds the advent of HD Audio and Video calling in Jamaica as noted in my blog article entitled “Digicel and LIME going VoLTE  - Why GSM extinct and Spectrum reused for M2M Services in HD Audio and Video Caribbean VoLTE-Age”

Streaming over 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution), which is no different from listening to the Radio, will gradually replace the need to download altogether.