U.S. Music Streaming Revenue Tops $8 Billion, Up 33%

On-demand music services including Apple Music, Pandora and Spotify will top $8 billion in revenue in the U.S. this year, up 33% as increased adoption of products like wireless earbuds and smart speakers help drive more music subscriptions, according to a new Consumer Technology Association survey.

The growing popularity of music and video streaming services, artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled emerging devices and in-vehicle technology will help drive the U.S. consumer tech industry to a record-breaking $401 billion in retail revenues in 2019 – 2.2% growth year over year -  according to the mid-year edition of CTA’s U.S. Consumer Technology Sales and Forecasts survey of U.S. factory sales-to-dealers for 300+ consumer tech products and related software and services.

“Enthusiasm for AI-powered technologies is skyrocketing – more consumers are discovering for themselves how tech innovation can change their daily lives for the better,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CTA. “And with 5G delivering the faster connectivity we’ll need for anytime/anywhere streaming, smarter home robotics and more advanced vehicles, consumer excitement will only grow, but unnecessary tariffs – taxes paid by American consumers and businesses – threaten to slow down our nation’s economic momentum.”

Survey results from other music-related categories

Smart Speakers: After rapid adoption of AI-enabled, voice-controlled smart speakers including Amazon Echo and Google Home, and increased voice integration in other devices such as TVs, soundbars and smart home devices, smart speaker sales will level off in 2019. Smart speakers remain a category to watch, with an expected 35.2 million units sold (1% increase over last year) and $3 billion in revenue (1% decrease) in 2019.

Smart Speakers: After rapid adoption of AI-enabled, voice-controlled smart speakers including Amazon Echo and Google Home, and increased voice integration in other devices such as TVs, soundbars and smart home devices, smart speaker sales will level off in 2019. Smart speakers remain a category to watch, with an expected 35.2 million units sold (1% increase over last year) and $3 billion in revenue (1% decrease) in 2019.                                                                                          

Software and Streaming Services – Music, Video and Gaming
Consumer spending on software and services (including music, video and gaming services) is projected to reach a new high of $75.6 billion in 2019 (a 14% growth over last year). Driving consumer demand are cloud-based subscription services supported across a range of devices.

• Video: Live TV streaming and exclusive content through subscriptions will push consumer spending on video streaming services to $17.7 billion in 2019, up 25%.

• Music: On-demand music services including Apple Music, Pandora and Spotify will cross $8 billion in revenue, up 33% as increased adoption of products such as wireless earbuds and smart speakers drive more music subscriptions.

• Gaming: A revolutionary shift toward cloud-based streaming models, subscriptions and growing in-game purchases will push the gaming software and services category to $38.9 billion in revenue in 2019 – an 11% increase.