US Music Streaming Tops 100 Million Subscribers; Vinyl Outsells CDs For Third Year 40
U.S. music streaming services surpassed 100 million subscribers in 2024 [PDF] while industry revenue hit a record $14.9 billion, up 4% from the previous year, according to the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Physical media sales outpaced digital growth, with vinyl records increasing 7% to $1.4 billion, outselling CDs ($541 million) for the third consecutive year. Digital downloads plummeted 14.9%, now representing just 2% of industry revenue.
Physical media sales outpaced digital growth, with vinyl records increasing 7% to $1.4 billion, outselling CDs ($541 million) for the third consecutive year. Digital downloads plummeted 14.9%, now representing just 2% of industry revenue.
Amazing! (Score:1)
It's wild that when you give consumers a chance to consume legally without squeezing them like a grape, they respond by purchasing your product!
Who knew?
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All the hottest underground mixes come on Edison wax cylinders.
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All the hottest underground mixes come on Edison wax cylinders.
It's the hot sticky cylinders that defined the Edison pornograph.
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Groovy! (Score:4, Funny)
No comment.
As a Vinyl lover, I approve (Score:2)
I fell in love with vinyl when streaming became popular. I got a record, album art, and a certificate to download all the mp3s for the same price as buying the album? That was a no brainer for me.
The main reason why I recommended it to everyone is because streaming just became a top 40 whatever. For those of us to remember buying and listening to albums: How many songs do you know and love that never made it to the radio? I know I have tons! That's my reasoning and why I recommend it to everyone.
Re: As a Vinyl lover, I approve (Score:2)
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How is streaming more detrimental to music discovery? I've listened to more and varied music and deep catalog stuff than ever before since I got a streaming plan vs. downloading (legal or otherwise) or purchasing music in stores. Is your impression that streaming is a single button like a radio and whatever is on is on so top 40 it is? Often times I'll follow a suggestion of something I haven't heard down to the artist, the album, their other albums, etc. Not sure how vinyl would help that unless I'm ha
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It's not a technological thing, it's a "people mastering CDs are stupid and like to destroy the audio quality just to make it sound louder" thing.
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So the loudness war does not affect new vinyl? Wouldn't wanna pop a grove now.
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Not quite to the same extent, first of all you have to master for vinyl separately as mastering for vinyl needs to take the engraving process and RIAA curves into account. Also clipping can be a lot worse on vinyl, even leading to skips.
But of course a really lazy engineer can take a peak-limited digital master, just drop the level to avoid clipping, tweak the bass, apply the RIAA curve and call it a day. The result will sound horrible, but hey at least it was quick.
Re:Well, of Course! (Score:4, Informative)
No you don't. Nearly all modern music simply takes the final digital master and sends it off for cutting. There's no separate mastering process. What you say still applies, but the cutting engineer almost universally will use the standard digital master as a starting point. It's not a question of "lazy engineer". You're talking about two different people doing two different jobs. Very VERY few vinyl are mastered for vinyl by someone who understands the vinyl cutting process and on a really really good system a vinyl sounds almost identical to a CD for virtually everything produced today. That said if you're chasing a good soudning version of something that was digitally remastered in the Bad Times (TM) then there are still some excellent vinyl masters out there because certainly pre 90s the process was very different.
By the way digital music is rarely peak limited these days. For over a decade now streaming services have normalised music (e.g. Spotify will take all masters and ensure they are at -14LUFS) and that has almost completely put an end to digital music being "hot" mastered and peak limited because when you target a normalisation below 0dBFS, then not peak limiting your music makes it sound louder.
The digital rubbish days of the 90s and 00s are thankfully over.
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It's mastered from digital, but it's mastered from a higher quality source than CD. I think people make too much of the vinyl/CD differences and audio clipping and all that - maybe it was worse back in the day? But at least theoretically, vinyl has the capability of being better than CD.
Many streaming services are offering music compressed from higher than CD quality music, and so really Apple Music or Amazon Music (or SACD/DVD-Audio off EBay) is the gold standard.
Re:Well, of Course! (Score:4, Informative)
Higher quality in terms of a high bitrate source material, but not a separate master. The difference the parent was talking about was sonically related to a different mastering process which just isn't done for vinyl these days, and to your point about streaming, no one has passed a blind test between high-res audio and a CD. that said streaming services do have some clout and money and in some cases do get a special remaster. They often name them as such though like "Apple Digital Master"
But at least theoretically, vinyl has the capability of being better than CD.
You have that very backwards. Theoretically CD has the capability of being better than vinyl, and often is. Vinyl has a world of limitations in sound, and noisefloor.
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And yet /. is still skipping on the same scratched "Greatest Hits" album. Next up:
* Don't Care About Graphics, Give My Games A Story
* Member When a Phone Was Just a Phone And I Made Phone Calls
* Every Movie Is Terrible After I Was 29
and of course
* Bill Gates Hates Linux, Resist Resist Resist
With Bonus Tracks
* Long Grey Beard Blues
* Hot Grits A Flying
Re:Well, of Course! (Score:4, Interesting)
False. 99.9% of vinyl out there is the CD master pressed onto vinyl. There's no practical difference between them beyond a few minor tweaks made to ensure they are playable. Most vinyl is just as hot as the CD.
Additionally the majority of modern music isn't mastered to destroy audio quality. That was a quirk of the 90s and 00s. In the past decade the streaming industry has introduced album normalisation targets which means that intentionally *not* mastering hot makes your music sound louder. Unless you're comparing vinyl to some rubbish 20 year old digital remastered edition you'll find very little difference between the CD and vinyl mastering.
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False. 99.9% of vinyl out there is the CD master pressed onto vinyl. There's no practical difference between them beyond a few minor tweaks made to ensure they are playable. Most vinyl is just as hot as the CD.
Additionally the majority of modern music isn't mastered to destroy audio quality. That was a quirk of the 90s and 00s......
Which was a major negative of the CD format which was not created to archive music originally. So CD format mastering did literally destroy sound quality.
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Mastering and archiving are not the same thing. Playing an archive tape or an archive original sounds like rubbish on your stereo. It's not a question of CD is for archiving or not, you're glossing over a step in the process.
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Audiophiles aren't driving these sales. It's collectors. A large portion of vinyl sold doesn't get played. It goes on walls, in bookshelves, etc. There's nothing douchebag or hipster about it. Buying vinyl is just a thing normal people do, and hasn't been the a hipster douchebag hobby since the last 2010s.
CDs all the way (Score:5, Interesting)
I purchase a lot of extended edition film soundtracks that are only released on limited run CDs. This is done to keep the licensing affordable for the small labels that put them out.
I love having these noncompressed, archival backups. I still legally rip them to the computer once I get them, for convenience of playback.
Records are just a tactile, feel good format for hipsters that isn't actually superior in any way, shape or form to compact disc. You just like the experience. That 'warm' sound quality is actually is actually just poor frequency response. But I understand the appeal of retro technology for the experience. The thing is, I grew up with all that, and when CDs came out in the mid-80s most of us never looked back. The convenience, durability and sound were just miles ahead of typical mass produced records and cassettes. Unlike DVD and Blu Ray, CDs did not come with obnoxious copy protection technology baked in, so one is free to transport the content to other formats as desired. You'll probably never see anything like that combination of perfection ever again.
I think records appeal more to people who never had to deal with them as their only decent musical option, whereas I have no interest in re-living a format that is easily damaged, has poor fidelity (except when compared to cassette tapes) and is just generally inconvenient. The one upside was huge album art and beautiful etched discs on occasion. More collectors art than anything.
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There was a time in the early 2000s when CDs did come with obnoxious copy protection technology.
Re: CDs all the way (Score:2)
I think that was data CD. Red book audio I donâ(TM)t believe ever had copy protection
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I think that was data CD. Red book audio I donâ(TM)t believe ever had copy protection
You thought wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
While the Sony case was probably the most notorious and the most audacious one, it was not the only one. Cactus Software was far more widely used although not as intrusive as the Sony rootkit. You need to understand this against the background of suddenly emerging P2P networks and more specifically Napster but there were others as well (such as hidden IRC channels). The record companies were caught their pants down, desperately fighting a sudden collapse of
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Records are just a tactile, feel good format for hipsters that isn't actually superior in any way, shape or form to compact disc
Apart from being tactile and of course bigger (larger album art).
You just like the experience.
No shit, sherlock! What do you do, jab forks into your leg so you don't like the experience while listening in hifi?
Re: CDs all the way (Score:2)
Not true. The signal path from the coils in the cartridge thru pre amps and riaa eq does color the sound in a way that digital doesn't
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Records are just a tactile, feel good format for hipsters that isn't actually superior in any way, shape or form to compact disc. You just like the experience.
I used to listen to my own music I'd burned from CDs on my computer, now I use spotify that has all that music and much, much more I actually feel less connection to the music I hear.
In the old way I was constantly exploring different parts of my limited collection, now, it's a few favourites and then some random stuff I have no real connection to.
The constraints of a medium can form a positive part of the experience.
I'm not a vinyl guy, but the limitations of the media are legitimate features.
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Sales in dollars, but how about units? (Score:3)
"Physical media sales outpaced digital growth, with vinyl records increasing 7% to $1.4 billion, outselling CDs ($541 million) for the third consecutive year."
Vinyl is quite a bit more expensive than CDs, so it wouldn't be at all surprising if CDs still outsell vinyl based on unit sales instead of dollar sales.
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Be surprised, they list the unit figures as well in the report: https://www.riaa.com/wp-conten... [riaa.com]
2024:
CD 32.9 million units, vinyl 43.6 million units
2023:
CD 32.4 million units, vinyl 43.2 million units
CDs haven't outsold vinyl since 2021. I don't know why you're surprised though. Vinyl is more expensive, but it's not 3x as expensive. For a typical album you end up with like $25 for the CD and $39 for the vinyl. However the discrepancy should also note that many specials only come in vinyl form. Boxed sets w
CD sales are down... (Score:2)
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And the last #1 popular rock song was by Nickelback in 2001. Tastes change grandpa!
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MD's (Score:1)
Screw vinyl and CD's,I'm still listening to mini discs.