While some recent industry statistics show a slowdown in the U.S. streaming market, spending remains quite healthy, according to new figures from market research firm MusicWatch.
Most notably, 50 million more Americans bought recorded music in 2024 than a decade earlier. Products included in that count are on-demand music subscriptions, paid internet radio subscriptions, physical formats such as CDs and LPs, and digital downloads. Some of that increase can be attributed to population growth over the last 10 years. The total U.S. population — including people under 13 and non-internet users who are typically not counted in market research surveys — grew by roughly 19 million over that period. But since the number of music buyers far outstripped population growth, most of the growth came from an increased interest in music products.
By MusicWatch’s estimate, about half of all Americans aged 13 to 70 — 132 million people — paid for a music subscription in 2024, including on-demand music streaming and satellite radio. Recently released RIAA figures put the subscription count at 100 million, which is an average for 2024 (meaning the subscriber count at the end of the year was higher than 100 million). Satellite radio company SiriusXM finished 2024 with 31.6 million self-pay subscribers, according to its latest financial results.
Not only are more Americans spending money on music, they’re spending more — even after adjusting for inflation. Americans spent $112 per capita on recorded music in 2024, up nearly 10% from $102 in 2023, according to MusicWatch. Back in 2014, per-capita spending was approximately $80, which is about $91 when adjusted for inflation. Taking inflation into account, per-capita spending increased approximately 32% over the past decade.
Live music spending fared even better than recorded music, jumping 17% to $281. Ticket inflation explains some of that increase, but not all — the percentage of people who bought a ticket rose to 56% from 51% in 2023. What’s more, spending on music merchandise such as T-shirts rose 45%.
Over the last decade, streaming turned U.S. recorded music revenue growth positive after an approximately 15-year downslide caused by digital piracy and a shift to selling single-track downloads rather than albums. Digital download sales have declined sharply over the past decade — from $2.3 billion in 2015 to $329 million in 2024, according to the RIAA — and piracy still exists despite the sharp rise in music buyers. MusicWatch found that 14 million Americans admitted to stream ripping music files in 2024. “Music piracy isn’t the scourge it was 20 years ago,” MusicWatch wrote, “but it’s still happening.”
Music piracy isn’t the only old habit that dies hard. While CD sales have fallen 61% over the last decade, 56 million Americans still listen to CDs in the car, and 48 million listen to digital downloads while driving. Both numbers are in decline, MusicWatch notes, “but nevertheless they represent a massive pool of listeners.”
