The RIAA released their 2019 mid-year report recently so I wanted to share some highlights and predictions for 2020. For the first half of 2019, the U.S. recorded music market’s total revenues grew 18% to 5.4 billion. Last year, I predicted that the recorded music market would continue double-digit growth and I was right. Streaming accounted for 80% of industry revenues.

“It’s great news for the music business and for the US economy overall. Music contributes $143 billion to the nation’s GDP every year, supporting more than 157,000 music-related businesses and nearly 2 million jobs. A healthy music economy fuels a healthy American economy.” – The RIAA said from a blog post.

There was growth in sales for physical products but RIAA notes that it was the result of a reduction in physical product returns. Sales grew 5% to $485 in the first half of 2019. Vinyl albums grew 13% to $224 million but only accounted for 4% in total revenues in the first half of 2019. Revenues from shipments of physical products made up 9% of the industry total for the same period. I’ve said it many times before but there needs to be innovation in the physical side of music. The growth of vinyl proves that the opportunity is there.

Final 2020 predictions:

• For 2020, I’m predicting another year of double-digit growth. It may be the last year we could see double digit growth from streaming in the U.S.
• Next year, I believe we’ll start seeing more services pitching to have you spend more on streaming music for a higher quality sound.
• In 2020, we may see an introduction of a service that will give fans more of an incentive to buy music or to support an artist or band.
• Will we finally see physical product/format innovation next year? I think so…

Read the entire report from the RIAA yourself HERE. What are your thoughts? What are your predictions for 2020? Let me know your thoughts on Twitter or Instagram.

If you’re here, and you haven’t listened to or added our Valholla NOW playlist, do so now. It’s available on Apple Music, Tidal, Spotify and YouTube. Let me know your favorite songs.