Streaming At Record High

We’re living in a streaming world and BuzzAngle Music has the stats to prove it with its 2017 mid-year report on U.S. music industry consumption.

Audio streams for the first half of 2017 (measured Dec. 30 through June 29) set a record high at 179.8 billion, up 58.5 percent over 2016. Subscription streams also continue to multiply, with a growth of 69.3 percent. Subscriptions streams accounted for 78.6 percent of total audio streams for 2017 year to date, up from 73.6 percent last year.

Chris McKay / GettyImages.com – Drake
Philips Arena, Atlanta, Ga.

Overall music consumption is up 9.9 percent over 2016 year to date: 293 million project units versus 266.6 million album project units.   

Song consumption for 2017 YTD is up 29.5 percent over 2016: 1.5 billion song project units versus 1.2 billion units. Song consumption for total song project units (total streams) includes song sales, on-demand audio streams/150, and on-demand video streams/150.

And now for some not so great news. Overall album sales are down 13.9 percent compared to 2016: 74.0 million units in 2017 YTD versus 86 million last year.

Digital album sales are down 24.3 percent and physical album sales are down 2.1 percent. Digital album sales accounted for 46.6 percent of all album sales in 2017 YTD, down from 53 percent last year.

Song sales (downloads) are down 23.8 percent compared to last year: 313.3 million in 2017 versus 410.9 million.

You’ve probably been hearing the last few years that vinyl sales are up – and the trend is continuing in 2017. According to BuzzAngle’s midyear report, vinyl album sales are up 20.4 percent over 2016 YTD. CD album sales are down 3.9 percent.

Drake has bragging rights as the artist with the most steams for the first half of 2017 – 3.7 billion streams. His latest album, More Life, is the most streamed album with 1.8 billion streams.

The most streamed song of the year, so far, is “Bad And Boujee” by Migos, featuring Lil Uzi Vert, with 711.3 million streams.