--- title: Digital Music Revenue Beats Global CD Sales for the First Time Ever description: A new report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a recording industry trade association, shows that 2014 was the first year in which worldwide digital music revenue exceeded physical music sales. Streaming services and sales of digital downloads generated $6.85 billion last year, while sales of CDs and LPs took in $6.82 billion. authors: - name: Jacob Davidson url: https://money.com/author/jacob-davidson/ at_money_since: 2014 articles: 106 covers: - Technology - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://x.com/JakeD former_staff: true published: '2015-04-15T15:44:07.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T05:40:53.000Z' section: Technology tags: - cd revenue - cd sales - Digital Music - Entertainment - Entertainment - Media - Music - Music Industry - Spotify - streaming - Taylor Swift word_count: 334 canonical: https://money.com/digital-music-revenue-cd-sales/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![spotify on cell phone](https://img.money.com/2015/04/150415_em_digimusicsales.jpg) The CD is one step closer to death. A new report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a recording industry trade association, shows that 2014 was the first year in which [digital music revenue exceeded physical music sales.](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/business/media/global-online-music-sales-slightly-surpass-cds-and-lps.html?_r=1) Streaming services and sales of digital downloads generated $6.85 billion worldwide last year, while sales of CDs and LPs took in $6.82 billion. The rise of digital music over the last two decades has been extraordinarily painful for the music industry. The IFPI's report also shows overall industry revenue has now fallen below $15 billion. If revenues are adjusted for inflation, that number is roughly 2.5 times less than the recording industry made during the late 1990s, [when revenue approached $40 billion in today's dollars.](http://qz.com/383109/the-music-industry-has-hit-its-rock-bottom/) The good news for music publishers is that revenues from streaming services like Spotify have continued to expand rapidly. Streaming accounted for almost $1.6 billion in revenue for the industry, up 39% year-over-year, [and streaming services now claim about 140 million users.](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/14/us-music-industry-idUSKBN0N51OV20150414) Back in March, the Recording Industry Association of America reported streaming and downloads together accounted for 64% of the total U.S. music market, with [streaming revenue passing CD sales alone for the first time](https://time.com/3750308/music-digital-downloads-sales-streaming-revenue/). Downloads still make up slightly more than half of digital revenue both internationally and domestically, but that may soon change. Edgar Berger, CEO of Sony Music Entertainment International, [told the *Telegraph*](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/11535355/Digital-music-revenues-overtake-physical-sales-for-the-first-time.html) that streaming had already overtaken digital downloads in 37 markets. Despite the streaming market's lucrative prospects, some artists have revolted against the prevailing ad-supported model, which allows customers to listen in for free. Taylor Swift has been especially vocal, [pulling her music from Spotify in protest of the service's free tier](https://money.com/taylor-swift-1989-spotify-losing-battle/). In March, Jay Z announced Tidal, a new pay-only streaming service that [seeks to place pricing power back in the hands of artists.](http://fortune.com/2015/03/31/jay-z-tidal/) However, reviews of Tidal [have been largely negative](https://time.com/3765268/tidal-music-jay-z-beyonce/), and Swift's battle against Spotify [may ultimately prove unwinnable](https://money.com/taylor-swift-1989-spotify-losing-battle/) as streaming comes to further dominate how we listen to music. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/digital-music-revenue-cd-sales/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Technology", "item": "https://money.com/technology/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Audio", "item": "https://money.com/audio/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Digital Music Revenue Beats Global CD Sales for the First Time Ever" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/digital-music-revenue-cd-sales/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/digital-music-revenue-cd-sales/", "name": "Digital Music Revenue Beats Global CD Sales for the First Time Ever", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-04-15T15:44:07.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/digital-music-revenue-cd-sales/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/digital-music-revenue-cd-sales/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T05:40:53.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Digital Music Revenue Beats Global CD Sales for the First Time Ever", "articleSection": "Technology", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/04/150415_em_digimusicsales.jpg", "width": 2865, "height": 4313, "caption": "150415_EM_DigiMusicSales" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jacob Davidson", "url": "https://money.com/author/jacob-davidson/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/jacob-davidson/#author", "image": "https://money.com/content.money.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/jake-davidson-2.jpg?crop=35px%2C18px%2C872px%2C872px&resize=640%2C640&quality=85&strip&ssl=1", "email": "jake.davidson@yoh.timeinc.com", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/JakeD" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-04-15T15:44:07.000Z", "description": "A new report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a recording industry trade association, shows that 2014 was the first year in which worldwide digital music revenue exceeded physical music sales. 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