Pre-Pandemic Music Industry Generated $170 Billion GDP
A comprehensive report released this week examines the music industry’s contribution to the U.S. economy. The report by economists Robert Stoner and Jéssica Dutra of Economists, Inc. evaluates pre-pandemic data and documents music’s ability to drive job creation and economic growth.
Among the findings, based on data from 2018, the music industry contributed $170 billion to US GDP annually, and supported 2.5 million jobs nationwide in core music activities like recording, streaming, and live performance, as well as adjacent fields like travel, retail, and marketing.
As an export, music generated $9.1 billion in foreign sales annually. And, for every dollar created by music activities, an additional fifty cents is created in adjacent business or fields.
In Tennessee, the music industry contributed $5.8 billion GDP and almost 62,000 jobs.
“This data provides an important pre-COVID benchmark of the music economy that will guide us as we determine what a return to ‘normal’ must include,” said Josh Friedlander, SVP of Research and Economics at RIAA. “It also charts a course for state and federal policymakers to leverage music’s ability to produce strong economic growth and high-paying domestic jobs.”
Read The U.S. Music Industries: 2020 Jobs & Benefits Report.
