BuzzAngle have released their annual report that tracks U.S. music consumption:
The continued explosion of audio stream consumption, which increased 82.6% to 250B streams, fueled this increase. Both album sales and song sales continued to decline but the transition to these new access methods has shown to provide overall growth and a sustainable business model for the future. Breaking down the tremendous streaming growth shows what is perhaps the most important stat of the year: the percentage of subscription streams rose from 62% of the total in 2015 to 76% of the total in 2016. The number of 2016 subscription streams grew over 2.25x the 2015 subscription streams amount.
I’m not sure I agree with the premise that this proves streaming is a “sustainable business model for the future,” but the trend lines are in the right direction and I think more artists and labels are figuring out how to use the streaming services to their benefit.