ESOTERIC UPDATES ITS STREAMING PREAMP AND CLASS-A POWER AMP

While total music-business revenues grew 3.5% to $11.5 billion last year, vinyl surged ahead 9.3% to a cool $1 billion, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The last time vinyl sales topped $1 billion was 1983, according to historical RIAA data.²

- By Tom Fine

Although the total revenues number—$11.5 billion—is a record in actual dollars, it is still much lower than 1999’s $16 billion inflation-adjusted peak. In other words, in terms of real value, the industry continues to recover from the dark times of the 2010s and may still have plenty of room to grow. The key difference from 1999 and now, of course, is that back then it was all about physical media (almost entirely Compact Discs) and nowadays it’s all about streaming, which, together with small fry “digital media” including ringtones and downloads, accounts for about 88% of revenues. D