How the Music Industry Survived the Internet. Sort of.

"Music was one of the first industries that felt the sonic boom of the internet, starting with song-sharing websites like Napster in the late 1990s and iTunes digital downloads later," writes the New York Times.

They take a quick look at how the music industry "survived an online revolution," arguing that streaming services "saved the music industry from the jaws of the internet," making it financially healthy and giving it a wider reach.

The music industry in the United States is not generating as much revenue as it used to. There is a debate about how long the gravy train will last. Many musicians say they are not sharing in the spoils of the digital transformation. The music industry is doing great. More than 500 million people around the world pay for digital music, mostly in fees for services such as Apple Music, which is based in China. The industry has never had a steady stream of cash before, thanks to those services. The industry is making a lot of money. Money goes to the people responsible for the song when you watch a music video on the internet. TikTok pays record companies when their videos feature popular songs. Revenue for the music industry has been increasing since 2015, but revenue from all sources is still less than it was in 1999. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, the total industry revenue back then was about $24 billion adjusted for inflation. There aren't many people who are willing to pay $10 a month for access to a whole bunch of songs on their phones via a service like Spotify. That is what worries people who believe the music industry has peaked.

Finally, the article points out that even the most-popular songs...aren't as popular as songs got in the past. And then it links to a story headlined "Streaming Saved Music. Artists Hate It." "The big winners are the streaming services and the large record companies. The losers are the 99 percent of artists who aren't at Beyoncé's level of fame. And they're angry about not sharing in the music industry's success."