Streaming now makes up most U.S. music industry revenue

I think the digital download and streaming revolutions was a comeuppance for the recording industry.

In the mid-80s when CDs were first going to be released I watched a in-depth news program which showed that CDs were much clearer in sound and much cheaper to make than vinyl. Something like 30 cents a CD and they predicted that album prices would come down in the near future.

When they began selling CDs prices for albums went up from about $12.99 an album to about $20 for the same CDs. I understood that the of economy of scale called for higher prices at the beginning since supply was low but the prices NEVER came down. They stayed at about $18.

I also remember that record companies were making record profits from the mid-80s to the late 90s selling overpriced CDs but the artists weren't getting any more of the proceeds due to it.

I switched from vinyl to crummy sounding tape cassettes because I couldn't really afford to buy CDs and vinyl was phased out. I used to curse the money grubbing corporations under my breath for making music so expensive. I longed for the days that if I wanted a single I only had to pay about $1 and $7.99 for an album in the late 70s.

The digital music revolution completely undermined the record corporations because they were static, greedy and hid behind lawyers that sued anyone and everyone. They ripped off customers and musicians for years. This is karma coming back to bite them. I just wish there was a way to get artists more of the money they deserve.

Streaming is superior on every level... except for reliability. Emusic and Sony will not honor any purchases made on the "older clouds"... this includes music, movies, and digital comic books. Google is extremely reliable. All of my pre-Army purchases on Google are still there. Sony, NOPE! Emusic... NOPE! I lost all of my Sony purchases. But Google is just superior! I can listen to any album in any format... that includes, digital remaster, vinyl , cassette, 8 track! Itunes is failing because they will not update the library for purchases. There is a lot more available in Japan Ituens than in America Itunes. Most classic rock various editions. Google is constantly evolving while Apple music just "sits there"! Amazon music is also good for "special digital editions". A CD is only 16but... digital remasters are 24 bit starting. This is the end of MP3's! Most MP3's were just ripped from CD's...

while this is nice for the labels [and pretty terrible for the artists and songwriters] the world's biggest streaming service, spotify, is still not turning a profit.