The growth of streaming music is staggering

Americans streamed moremusic than ever last year, according to Nielsen Music’sYear- End Music Report.

Streaming audio consumptionwas up 63% and crushed sales of physical albums, digital albums and digital tracks — all of which posted annual volume declines in both current and catalog content.

The music industry firstwas shaken up by digital downloads from platforms such as Apple’s iTunes, which made its debut in 2003. That disruption resulted in the bankruptcies of physical album retailers such as Tower Records.

This second paradigm shift— led by streaming platforms such as Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music and Amazon Music— occurred because improved mobile connectivity and data plans made downloading songs seem cumbersome.

However, the music streaming industry still is a tough one to thrive in because of high content- licensing and data costs. That’swhymany top players, including Pandora and Spotify, still aren’t profitable.

However, bigger players such asApple andAmazon can afford to run their music streaming platforms at a loss in order to tether more users to their ecosystems. Steve Jobs once said that people “don’twant to rent their music,” but times seem to be changing.

John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Leo Sun owns shares of Amazon. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon, Apple and Pandora.