The Music Industry Is Bigger Than You Think

Whenever someone mentions the phrase "the music industry" we immediately think of record labels and music sales, be they via a digital file, CD, vinyl record, cassette or some other method where we listen to songs. The business is a lot bigger than that, especially if we look at all the different categories.

The IFPI (the world-wide music industry trade association), recently released some figures from 2010 which shows the real reach that the business has. Here are the following revenue streams of the world-wide music business, from highest to lowest:

$32.5 Billion: Radio advertising

$27.6 Billion: Recorded music retail sales

$25.0 Billion: Home Audio systems

$24.2 Billion: Portable digital players

$21.6 Billion: Live Music

$16.4 Billion: Music Instrument sales

$9.0 Billion: Music and television magazine advertising

$4.8 Billion: Publishing

$1.7 Billion: Performance rights

As you can see, it's a huge industry worth $168 billion. Sure, there are a lot of facets to it, but it just goes to show that there are also a lot of consumers out there who are still willing to part with their cash in exchange for something to listen to, play or enjoy music with. Don't believe what you read about the music business dying. The numbers don't lie.

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