Nielsen & Billboard Release Mid-Year Music Industry Report

Nielsen Entertainment and Billboard released their 2013 mid-year U.S. music report late last week, and the data reinforces some important changes that are happening in the music industry. From Dec. 31, 2012 – June 20, 2013, digital track sales went down about 2.3% and CD sales also continued to drop, about 14.2%. Streaming however showed significant growth – audio and video music streams increased 24% to 50.9 billion, showing a "clear indication that consumer habits are shifting away from downloading in favor of accessing music from the "cloud." Read more about the mid-year report and the state of the music industry here.