Major Labels Now Earn Over $1 Million Per Hour in Streaming Revenue

The days of major labels bemoaning the sad state of the music industry are long gone, with report after report showing that the music business is very, very healthy. Add another to that list: Music Business Worldwide has crunched some numbers for the 2019 fiscal year and discovered that the recorded music divisions of the three major labels — Sony, Universal and Warner — now rake in over $1 million in streaming revenue per hour.

Those three labels together generated $22.9M, on average, every 24 hours in 2019, which comes out to just under $1M per hour. But the fourth quarter of the year was particularly strong, with the majors generating $1.02B in total streaming revenue; that comes to $24.8M per day, or $1.03M per hour.

Year over year, streaming revenue rose by $1.43B from 2018 to 2019, which is actually lower than the $1.62B growth between 2017 and 2018, indicating the pace of growth in the streaming sector might be slowing down. But such a slowdown in growth is inevitable as streaming becomes a regular part of music consumers’ lives.

How those earnings shake down to artists, of course, is an entirely different issue, with many still likely to complain about the miniscule payouts streaming offers, especially in comparison to physical media.

The Music Business Worldwide report contains a number of other interesting statistics, including comparisons of each label’s earnings. Read it in full right here.

[via Metal Injection]