Streaming revenues, downloads and physical sales approach parity in US

Figures from the U.S. show the increasing importance of streaming for the recorded music sector as the  shift from physical to digital, and from download to stream continues.  2014 figures from the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) show revenues getting ever closer to being split three ways between physical, downloads and streams:  27% of US recorded music revenues now come from streaming services is in no small part down to SoundExchange whose compulsory licence revenue very nearly equalled revenues from fully on-demand streaming services like Spotify, which are licensed by the labels directly although SoundExchange treats likes of Sirius - a satellite radio service - as streaming revenue. Directly-licensed freemium services brought in about a third of what was made from directly-licensed subscription services last year, despite having many more users, but that doesn't include ad-funded services using SoundExchange licenses, such as Pandora. RIAA figures show download revenues down 8.7% so that they represent 37% of the wider market, while CD sales were down 12.7% meaning that, despite the 'vinyl revival', physical product accounted by 32% of income.