Streaming had a strong performance in the first half of 2015, according to the latest RIAA report. Paid subscriptions generated $477.9 million, an increase of 24.9% over the same period of 2014. Ad-supported streaming increased 27.1% to $162.7 million. All streaming revenue sources, including SoundExchange distributions, exceeded $1 billion for the first time in this half and secured a 33% share of the industry’s total revenues.
Overall wholesale revenue rose 0.8% to $2.3 billion compared with the year-ago period, and overall retail value inched down 0.5% to $3.2 billion. While those percentage changes are small, they do still mark a contrast from the group’s 2014 mid-year report, where the market’s wholesale revenue dropped 2.5% as streaming growth wasn’t enough to balance the losses in other sectors.
