Spotify and Apple drive US music industry's 8% growth in first half

Los Angeles

AFTER almost two decades of relentless decline caused by piracy and falling prices, the music business is enjoying a fragile recovery, thanks to the growth of paid streaming services like Spotify Ltd and Apple Music.

Retail spending on recorded music grew 8.1 per cent to US$3.4 billion in the first half of 2016, according to a draft midyear report from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) that was obtained by Bloomberg News. That means the US industry is on pace to expand for the second straight year - the first back-to-back growth since 1998-1999.