The Advent of Streaming Media Era (1)

Bill Gates has long predicted that "the future belongs to streaming media". Indeed, the rapid development of Internet technology and its impact on people's life make people imagine the convenience it brings to people in the streaming media era. From the beginning of the industrial revolution, we have deeply realized that the development of technology always brings convenience to people's lives, and this time it's the turn of the music industry.

As a special commodity, music related to industries has formed the structure of carrier + content from the beginning. Moreover, the carrier plays a key role in the development of the music industry, and the industry is constantly adjusted and reconstructed with the development of the carrier. Streaming media is a new carrier derived from the Internet, which is a digital music carrier.

The music industry is divided into four eras: music score era, phonograph era, record era, and streaming media era. The development of the Internet has promoted the digitization of music carriers, and there have been paid downloads and streaming media. However, the consumption model of paid download is equivalent to the era of records (black glue, tape, CD, and MP3), so the real turning point is streaming media. And now we have entered the era of streaming media, which has become the most important source of income for the music industry. Digital revenues have also increased steadily over the past few years. IFPI data show that streaming revenues alone now account for more than half (56.1%) of the global recorded music market after increasing by 22.9% in 2019, and has exceeded physical music and become the largest music form in the world. By the end of that year, there were 341 million users of subscription streaming accounts globally.

When people realize that streaming has had an unprecedented impact on the music industry, it has already changed the model of the music industry quietly.