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Arts & EntertainmentMusic

Why Streaming Is Taking Over the Music Industry In One Handy Chart

By
Anne VanderMey
Anne VanderMey
and
Nicolas Rapp
Nicolas Rapp
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By
Anne VanderMey
Anne VanderMey
and
Nicolas Rapp
Nicolas Rapp
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 27, 2016, 11:30 AM ET
December 22, 2008, Escondido, California, USA_Detail view of vinyl 12 inch LP record albums for sale at Gary's record Paradise_Credit: photo by Charlie Neuman, San Diego Union-Tribune/Zuma Press. copyright 2008 San Diego Union-Tribune  (Credit Image: © Th
DR1DR8 December 22, 2008, Escondido, California, USA_Detail view of vinyl 12 inch LP record albums for sale at Gary's record Paradise_Credit: photo by Charlie Neuman, San Diego Union-Tribune/Zuma Press. copyright 2008 San Diego Union-Tribune (Credit Image: © The San Diego Union Tribune/ZUMA Press)Alamy Stock Photo
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All is not well in the music industry. Revenue is a fraction of what it was during the heyday of the CD—and far from being replaced by iTunes singles, sales from downloads have fizzled, too. Vinyl has staged an unlikely comeback, but its rise is only remarkable in the context of the rapid demise of all other physical forms of music. And music videos are hardly a reliable source of income.

There is hope, though, and it’s streaming music. Services like Spotify and Pandora continue to grow, helping drive a nascent sales increase in the industry for the first time, as Kid Rock would say, in a long time.

Click here to enlarge the graphic.

Nicolas Rapp
Nicolas Rapp

Vinyl

As CD sales continue their descent, vinyl records have enjoyed an audiophile-driven resurgence—with record sales making up 31% of physical music sold in the first half of this year.

Streaming

Downloading music, thought to be the future of the industry as à la carte iTunes purchases climbed, lost out to streaming, which brought in $2.4 billion last year.

Revenue

Record-industry revenues adjusted for inflation are nowhere near what they were in the ’70s, but there’s a bright side: They’re starting to climb again, and margins too.

For more on music streaming, watch this Fortune video:

A version of this article appears in the November 1, 2016 issue of Fortune with the headline “The Record Industry Sees a Savior in Streaming.”

This article has been corrected to reflect the total revenue for all streaming in 2015.

About the Authors
By Anne VanderMey
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Nicolas Rapp
By Nicolas RappInformation Graphics Director
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Nicolas Rapp is the former information graphics director at Fortune.

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