DIMA's yearly report shows the strength of music streaming in the USA

 
By Emmanuel Legrand 

Streaming revenue is expected to top $15bn by 2024 and nearly $18bn by 2026 in the USA, according to the Streaming Forward 2020 report from the Digital Media Association (DIMA), produced by MIDiA Research. Streaming will likely account for nearly 90% of US recording revenues by 2026, from 77% in 2019. Looking at the future, the report estimates that over the next seven years" the streaming revolution will only grow more powerful.


 

  DIMA said its members — Amazon, Apple, Google, Pandora, Spotify and YouTube — contributed $10.3 billion (or $28.2m per day) to the US music industry in 2019, up 21% year-on-year. In 2019, there were 99 million paid subscribers, and nearly 117 million ad-supported listeners in the US.

 

  The number keeps growing year-over-year and the report estimates that "if the market stays on this trajectory, the value of subscriptions in the US alone will reach $11.6 billion by 2026, and the recorded music market will generate more than  $20 billion in revenues—an all-time industry peak."

  "The individual numbers tell a compelling story and the overall message is clear: streaming services have revitalised the US music industry, setting it squarely on a trajectory to achieve all-time highs for growth and revenue," wrote DIMA CEO Garrett Levin in the foreword to the report. For Levin, the report is aimed at showing the valuable contribution that music streaming has brought to the US music sector.

  "Less than a decade ago the music industry was locked in a multi-year cycle of declining revenues, searching for a way to empower fans to engage with — and pay for — music. The streaming revolution changed all of that, creating a new paradigm for how music is created, distributed, and enjoyed, to the benefit of artists, song-writers, copyright holders, fans, and the entire music ecosystem," wrote Levin.

A virtuous partnership

  The report focuses on all the changes that streaming services brought to consumers, from the unlimited access to music to trendsetting playlists, access to lyrics and the increasing availability of podcasts. It also looks at consumers reactions to recent innovations such as the rise and rise of smart speakers, car dashboard offering access to streaming services, or hi-fi sound.

  The number of smart speakers in the US has almost quadrupled over the past two years, with just more than 70 million speakers owned in 2019, boosting further the use of streaming services. "Music is the most-requested feature on smart speakers, with 90% of speaker owners listening to music via their speakers on a weekly basis," according to MIDiA's Mark Mulligan.

  "Globally, 27% of consumers now own a smart speaker, with 24% listening to music on one of those devices; the US has the highest penetration of smart speaker owners in the world at 29% of households. Accordingly, US households are the most fertile addressable audience for music subscriptions: 47% of US smart speaker listeners will pay for a subscription, compared to 21% of overall consumers."  

 "The music industry is more connected than ever: without music, streaming services would suffer, and without streaming services, creators and fans would suffer," concluded Levin. "The recognition of this virtuous partnership lies at the heart of our interconnected industry."