Headlines: Streaming Stays Strong

Anyone with a financial interest in music royalties is closely watching how the stay-at-home orders are affecting listening data. While it remains far too early to draw any lasting conclusions, early indications point to streaming—and even digital sales—as largely resilient compared to live music's struggles.

Coronavirus Listener Data: Music Streams & Digital Downloads See Gains as 'Escape' Markets Emerge (Billboard)

After two weeks of declines in streaming as Americans stayed glued to cable news, music streams grew 2% to 24.8 billion for the week ended April 2, up from 24.3 billion a week before.

Music Streaming Subscription Forecast to Top 450M by the End of 2020 (MBW)

A new report published by Counterpoint Research predicts that the number of music streaming subscriptions globally will exceed 450 million by the end of 2020, which would be more than a 25% year-on-year increase.

BPI study reveals strength in streaming of catalogue tracks (MusicAlly)

The trend is that older music is growing its share: the 60.3% figure compares to 56.5% in 2018 for tracks defined as ‘catalogue’ according to the BPI.

U.S. Digital Album Sales Hit 7-Month High (Billboard)

In the week ending March 26, total U.S. album sales grew 2.3% to 1.558 million copies sold across all formats.