Luminate’s midyear report landed with a split picture: global on-demand streams grew 9.8 percent to 2.8 trillion, while the US managed 4.8 percent, roughly half the global rate.
Two other figures stand out for independent artists. US CD sales rose 16 percent to 16.3 million units, continuing a physical recovery that has now run long enough to stop being a novelty. And Spanish-language music accounts for around 10 percent of US streams, a share that keeps climbing while the overall US market slows.
The US grew at roughly half the global rate. Bars are scaled to the global figure.
The read: growth has moved international and physical. If your release plan treats the US streaming market as the default target and a digital-only release as the default format, you are aiming at the slowest-growing part of the business. Territory-specific pitching and a small physical run are no longer niche moves.
More on building demand that converts in our guide to turning streams into fans.
"Global streams up 9.8%, but US growth is half that" as a carousel publishes on @109music.co. The embed drops in here once it is live.