Artists Made Only 12% Of The Music Industry’s $43 Billion USD Revenue In 2017

Musicians and artists made a seemingly measly 12% of the $43 billion USD ($57 million AUD) in revenue that the music industry in United States brought in last year, according to a new report.

Pitchfork reports that, in a new report published by Citigroup, large portions of this revenue is kept by radio stations, record labels and tech companies, while artists made around $5 billion of that revenue. On top of that, US listeners are apparently spending around $20 billion on music.

What’s particularly shocking is that this 12% is actually an increase from previous years, with the figure only being 7% in 2000. According to the report, this increase is due to a surge in the concert business and the fact that there are more means for artists to self-release their music, thereby keeping more of the money.

The mammoth reports, around 88 pages, says that the $43 billion figure is actually a return to peak for the US, as the last time it was around that high was over a decade ago in 2006.

The report does also make note of the fact that US listeners are spending more on music than ever before. Physical sales are still falling, but the amount of money spent on subscription services and concerts are rising rapidly.

You can read the full report here.

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