After some particularly abysmal years of record sale declines, financial analysts have revealed that the music industry's profits increased by $1.4 billion throughout 2017. This is solely credited to the continued adoption of streaming services as the method du jour of consuming musical content.
As a whole, revenues were able to reach $17.4 billion, which is slightly behind 2008's net cume of $17.7 billion, a total that would have been bolstered by traditional album and single sales instead of streaming figures. The industry has been able to adapt to changing times, but it is still unclear what percentage of the $17.4 billion is paid to artists, as several are still complaining that they are earning far less because of this widespread shift in consumption habits.
As a result, streaming accounts for 43% of all revenues, which is impressive for the relatively young phenomenon. However, in an age where content must be available en masse, it's fitting that services such as Spotify and Apple Music are satiating a consumer's appetite for expansive music libraries and playlists.