CD和黑膠唱片銷售額多年來首次超過數字下載音樂

錄制音樂銷售數據顯示，激光唱片（CD）和黑膠唱片銷售額2011年以來首次超過數字下載音樂。

隨著流媒體服務變得越發普遍，近幾年數字下載音樂銷售額顯著下滑，實體唱片銷售因而得以占據上風。

不過，這并不是說黑膠唱片和CD表現良好。美國唱片業協會（RIAA）最近公布的2017年底報告表明，2017年實體介質音樂銷售額同比下降4%，而數字下載音樂銷售額的滑坡幅度遠遠超過前者，達到25%。

同樣是在2017年，Spotify、Apple Music、Pandora和Tidal等平臺的付費音樂訂閱量上升了50%。流媒體的成長使美國音樂行業整體銷售額提高了16.5%，達到87億美元，這也是1999年以來美國音樂行業收入連續兩年出現大幅增長。

不過，美國音樂行業距自己的巔峰還有很長一段路要走。雖然2017年收入和2008年相當，但與最高水平相比還有40%的差距。（財富中文網）

譯者：Charlie

審校：夏林

For the first time since 2011, CDs and vinyl have eclipsed digital downloads in terms of recorded music sales.

The reason: Digital download sales have dropped significantly over the past few years because of the growing popularity of streaming services, allowing the sale of physical albums sales to gain an edge.

That doesn’t mean vinyl and CDs are doing well, however. Sales of physical media declined 4% in 2017 from the year before, while digital downloads took a much larger 25% drop, according to the RIAAs recently-released 2017 year-end report.

Meanwhile, paid music subscriptions to services like Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and Tidal grew 50% in 2017. That increase in streaming was enough to help the music industry report a 16.5% overall increase in sales to $8.7 billion, marking the first time since 1999 that U.S. music revenues grew materially for two years in a row.

That said, the music industry is still a long way from its zenith. While its 2017 revenue numbers matched its sales in 2008, it is still 40% below peak levels.