When digital music was first introduced, it was heralded as being the next standard in terms of music. It made sense because other physical formats of music such as CDs and vinyl not only consume resources when producing them, but they also take up space and it can be annoying to have to keep changing them out when you want new songs.
However in a somewhat interesting twist. A report from CNET has revealed that physical formats such as CDs and vinyls are actually on the rise again and are outselling music downloads, or to be more specific, iTunes downloads. This is based on data from the Recording Industry Association of America, or RIAA which found that downloads represented 11% of the revenue US labels made last year, versus physical sales which accounted for 12%.
However this does not mean that physical formats will be replacing digital music anytime soon. Instead it seems that while downloads are decreasing in terms of sales, streaming is on the rise where they represented a whopping 75% of revenue last year. This is why it’s not surprising to see many companies try their hand at launching their own music streaming services.
Right now Spotify is pretty much the king and sitting at the top of the pile, but Apple Music isn’t too far behind which could potentially allow Apple to help make up for the decrease in downloads.
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