U.S. Streaming Music Growth Offsets Digital Sales Decline in H115 - RIAA (AAPL) (P)

Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) continued foray into streaming music isn't a coincidence given the rapid growth of the segment over the last few years.

According to the latest report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), streaming music now accounts for about 33 percent of total U.S. music revenue through the first-half of 2015. The compares with just 26 percent for the same period last year.

Streaming revenue was enough to outpace a decline in digital music sales, but overall wholesale growth was just 0.8 percent to $2.3 billion in H115. Retail revenue slipped 0.5 percent to $3.2 billion.

The RIAA also noted, The value of paid subscriptions to on-demand services grew to $478 million, up 25% y-o-y on a value basis. The number of paid subscriptions increased from 7.9 to 8.1 million, but is up 49% versus the number of paid subscriptions in 2013. Note that the launch of AppleMusic only occurred on the last day of the period.

News comes as Apple is said to have netted about 7.5 million paying subs in the first three months of Apple Music availability. That number compares with 15 million users moving to try the service right out of the gate.

Also on watch following the news are Sirius (Nasdaq: SIRI) and Pandora (NYSE: P).

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