From Vinyl to Streaming: Economic Sustainability and Globalisation in the Music Industry
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Academic Publishing UNWE (AP-UNWE)
Abstract
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This paper examines the transition of the music industry from physical media (vinyl, CD) to digital streaming, with a focus on economic and environmental sustainability. Historically, physical formats offered high margins for labels but generated significant material waste. Streaming has stabilised the global music economy, accounting for 67.3% of recorded music revenue by 2023, yet it has introduced new structural pressures. Economically, the pro-rata royalty model intensifies income inequality, concentrating the majority of royalties among the top 1% of artists, while platforms struggle with persistently high licensing costs and thin margins. Environmentally, the shift replaces material waste with substantial, consumption-dependent energy demands from global data center infrastructure. The analysis concludes that streaming offers macro-level stability, but its long-term sustainability is threatened by creator precarity and escalating energy consumption.
Keywords
Cultural industries, Income inequality, Carbon footprint, Sustainability, Royalty distribution, Globalisation, Streaming economics, L82 - Entertainment • Media, D63 - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement, Q54 - Climate • Natural Disasters and Their Management • Global Warming