The online music distribution industry changes so quickly that it gets hard to keep up.  Even traditional surveying techniques are forced to rely on data that’s a year or two old.  However, from the numbers we do have, some trends are very clear.

Digital music is growing in size and it’s already on the verge of truly dominating the music industry.

Five Facts Showing The Strength Of Digital Music Distribution

1 – Digital and physical sales are now at parity

Album sales through both channels make up 92% of all industry revenue, and those sales are now split straight down the middle, 46 to 46.  It’s likely only going to be another year or two before digital music outsells physical distribution across most genres.

2 – Digital music grew by 6.9% in 2014.

Online music has been steadily gaining ground for years, and is now a $6.9 billion dollar industry.

3 – Subscription services are booming.

Revenue from subscription-based streaming services jumped an amazing 39% in 2014. Plus, 69% of all users online have used such a service in the last six months. In retrospect, that probably makes 2014 the year streaming radio truly hit the big time.

There’s no better time to get into streaming radio.

4 – Profits are growing for those with online royalties.

While some services are doing a better job paying their musicians than others, overall, artists collected just under $1 billion in online royalties from streaming performances, YouTube, and such.  

5 – YouTube is the big winner in music discovery.

At least 84% of online users are aware of YouTube as a source for music. In fact, the top search term on YouTube is “music“. In terms of widespread exposure, plus the potential for royalties, YouTube is probably the single best all-around music distribution platform at the moment.

SongCast can quickly get your music on all of the biggest music distribution sites, as well as onto streaming radio.  Come see what we have to offer.