Remember when we were growing up and everyone we knew was downloading songs from the Internet for free? Generation Ypay, they called us. And they said there was no longer a business model for recorded music. But the music industry got together with Silicon Valley, and now, largely thanks to paid-for streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, in the USA revenues are back up to $11 billion, having risen by 13 percent in 2019.
True, there is no return to last-century levels: in 1999 CD sales in the USA brought in $14.6 billion. But the latest returns are a vast improvement on piracy’s peak year, 2014, when US revenues reached only $6.7 billion.
With 60 million music-streaming subscribers in the USA alone, this up-tick shows no sign of turning back down.
Personally as a subscriber I would never want to go back to the piracy era which was much more of a hustle, and it was dangerous. This way we are not only reviving the music industry but also helping to support the creativity of musicians.
Million-selling digital albums by the likes of Post Malone and Billie Eilish indicate that the next generation is already signing up to the new financial model for recorded music.
For once the term ‘win-win’ seems justified.
