There are now 30 million paid music subscribers in the US. It’s by far the industry’s best performing segment.

More than 30 million people pay for music subscriptions in the US, according to the latest figures released by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for the first half of 2017. Paid streaming subscriptions have increased to 30.4 million in the US, up from 20.2 million during the first half of 2016. Revenue from paid streaming has also grown substantially in 2017, reaching $1.49 billion compared to $995 million this time last year. Paid subscriptions are led by the growth of services like Spotify and Apple Music, as well as the growth of Amazon’s streaming service.

PAID STREAMING REVENUE HAS GROWN TO $1.49 BILLION IN THE FIRST HALF OF 2017

A new subsection of streaming music, known as limited tier paid subscriptions, is making noise as well. These services, like Amazon’s Echo-only $4 a month streaming service and Pandora’s $5 a month option, either don’t offer full catalogs or are only available on a single device.
Limited tier paid subscriptions grew 213 percent from last year, pulling in $225 million in the first part of 2017. They nearly caught up to the revenue brought in by ad-supported streaming services like YouTube and Spotify’s free tier, which brought in $273 million in the same period.
Barring any dramatic changes before the end of the year, 2017 is on pace to continue the music industry’s revenue growth. It’ll still be a while before the industry will reach the levels it was at in the late ‘90s, but if the growth of paid streaming continues like many expect it will, it won’t be much longer. The latest report from Goldman Sachs expects the music industry to reach $41 billion in revenue by 2030.