U.S. Music Consumption Up 14 % in First Quarter, Streams Make Up Losses in Sales

From Billboard:

Large increases in audio and video streaming drove a big increase in first-quarter music consumption, according to Nielsen Music.

The improvement stems from large increases in streaming activity, which drove music consumption in the United States up 14 percent in the first quarter, according to Nielsen Music. Notably, the streaming gains were able to cover any losses in physical and digital sales.

Total streams increased 90.6 percent in the quarter. Video streams jumped 109.9 percent to 35.84 billion. Audio streams rose 71.4 percent to 29.49 billion. Total streams accounted for 33 percent of total equivalent albums, up from 19.7 percent in the first quarter of 2014. (All key streaming services other than Pandora are included in Nielsen’s streaming numbers.)

Digital sales fell slightly. Track sales fell 10.9 percent and digital album sales rose 2.8 percent. Total digital sales, measured as digital album equivalents, fell 4.4 percent and accounted for 42.8 percent of total equivalent albums, down from 60 percent a year earlier.

Physical albums also fell. They had a modest decline of 5.6 percent and accounted for 24.2 percent of total equivalent albums, down from 29.3 percent in the prior-year period.