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Music vocabulary · The Music Industry

Streaming

Meaning in music, with examples

/ˈstriːmɪŋ/nounCore term

In music, streaming means: Listening to music over the internet without downloading it to keep, through services such as Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube Music. It is now the main source of recorded-music income.

In Turkish: dijital dinleme, streaming, akış

How it is used

People talk about 'streaming platforms', 'streaming income' and 'streaming numbers'. A song 'gets a million streams'; artists try to land on playlists. The verb is 'stream': 'The album was streamed 10 million times'.

Example sentences

  1. Most of our income from recordings now comes from streaming, not physical sales.

  2. The song took off on streaming after it was added to a big editorial playlist.

Common collocations

  • streaming platform
  • streaming income
  • streaming numbers
  • on streaming
  • get streams
  • releaseTo make a song, album or video available to the public, for example on streaming platforms, in shops or on video sites.
  • royaltiesPayments made to songwriters, composers, performers and rights owners each time their music is sold, streamed, broadcast, performed in public or used in media.
  • singleOne song released on its own, often to promote an upcoming album or to keep listeners interested between larger releases.
  • record labelA company that finances, releases, distributes and promotes recordings, usually in exchange for ownership of the recordings or a share of their income.
  • masteringThe final stage of audio production, in which finished mixes are polished, made consistent in loudness and tone, and prepared for streaming, CD or vinyl.

More terms: The Music Industry

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