2016 was the first year streaming services provided the majority of the music industry’s revenue

The music industry has a long and tortured relationship with the tech companies that pay for the privilege of streaming their songs. Record executives and individual artists have complained that they aren’t being paid enough, and in some cases kept their catalog off of the services entirely. But in the latest report from the Record Industry Association of America, the prominence of streaming continues to grow. For the first time ever, revenue from streaming music made up the majority of the industry’s overall revenue, coming in at 51 percent. The growth of streaming powered an 11 percent jump in total revenue for 2016 when compared to the year before — the best growth rate for the industry since 1998.

Of course, even with that good...

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