Washington, DC (March 28, 2023)—The RIAA is reporting the eighth straight year of growth for recorded music in 2023, with retail revenues topping $17 billion, an all-time high, driven by streaming and vinyl.
The RIAA’s 2023 Year-End Music Industry Revenue Report attributes much of the 8% growth in total revenues at estimated retail value last year to streaming. Paid subscriptions, ad-supported services, digital and customized radio, social media platforms, digital fitness apps and others drove revenues up 8% to a record high of $14.4 billion, or 84% of total revenues, for the second year in a row. Wholesale revenues ticked up 7% to $11 billion, also a record high.
Drilling down, revenues from paid subscriptions grew 9% to $11.2 billion in 2023, accounting for 78% of streaming revenues, and nearly two-thirds of total revenues. In contrast, limited tier subscriptions — services limited by factors such as mobile access, catalog availability, product features or device restrictions, including Amazon Prime, Pandora Plus and music licenses for streaming fitness services — fell 4% to $1.0 billion.
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The resurgence of physical music formats that began in 2021 continues unabated, with total physical revenues up 11% from 2022 to $1.9 billion. Revenues from vinyl records grew 10% to $1.4 billion, marking a seventeenth consecutive year of growth. Vinyl accounted for 71% of all physical format revenues. CD revenues were also up 11%, to $537 million, but for the second time since 1987, the report notes, vinyl albums outsold CDs in units, 43 million vs 37 million.
Revenues from digitally downloaded music have long been declining, and last year was no exception, dropping 12% to $434 million. Digital album sales and individual track sales were down double digits to $205 and $191 million respectively, according to the report. Downloads, which peaked in 2012 at 43% of revenues, accounted for just 3% of U.S. recorded music revenues in 2023.
