Major labels make $150 a second from streaming

The three major labels raked in US$1.13bn from streaming in the first quarter of 2017 – with Universal Music Group posting its strongest earnings since 2002.

Music Business Worldwide (great, authoritative name, don’t you think?) did some hefty division and worked out that this amounts to $150 that comes to the three majors each second, with Universal taking 44% of this. This is US$523,000 per hour, or US$12.5M per day.

The first quarter streaming revenues(for the majors only) have risen by 37% since 2016. MBW worked out that overall earnings from streaming — taking into account the indies, which make up a 24.4% market share, globally — sits at roughly US$1.5bn for the first quarter.

Impressive figures, even if Spotify’s Troy Carter admits artists aren’t seeing enough of this money.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.