RIAA report: streaming accounted for more US recorded-music revenue than downloads in 2015, rising from 27% in 2014 to 34% in 2015
US recorded-music revenues rose slightly in 2015 says RIAA — US music industry body the RIAA has published its figures for 2015, revealing …
Context & Ripple Effects
The crossover was already visible mid-year: the RIAA's first-half 2015 tally showed streaming revenues up 23.2% while downloads fell 4%. The full-year figures now make it official — streaming's share of US recorded-music revenue jumped from 27% to 34%, putting it ahead of downloads for the first time.
That makes 2015 the pivot point of the post-Napster era: the format that had carried the industry since the iTunes years ceded its lead within a single reporting cycle, and every subsequent RIAA release has widened the gap rather than revisited it.
First-order effects
- Download retailers and rights holders reliant on per-track sales lose their position as the top revenue line; streaming platforms become the primary channel through which US recorded-music income flows.
- The RIAA's own reporting shifts emphasis from unit sales to subscription counts, a metric framework that dominates its releases from here on.
Second-order effects
- Services compete for subscribers rather than track purchases — by 2018 the RIAA counted more than 50M US subscriptions and reported that three-quarters of streaming revenue came from paid tiers, confirming the shift toward recurring billing.
- Ad-supported tiers become the secondary battleground: as the paid pool grows, free streaming's share of revenue comes under scrutiny, a tension visible later when the RIAA reported ad-supported revenue actually declining in 2024.
Third-order effects
- The industry's decade-long revenue decline reverses into compounding growth: total US recorded-music revenue climbs from $7.7B in 2016 to $9.8B in 2018, with streaming accounting for an ever-larger majority each year.
- Revenue concentration around a handful of streaming platforms gives those intermediaries structural pricing power over labels and artists — the bargaining dynamic that underpins later licensing fights, including the RIAA's litigation against AI music services.
The trend: US recorded music is completing its transition from ownership formats to subscription streaming, with the RIAA's annual reports marking each stage of the crossover from 2015 onward.