The US music business is experiencing a renaissance with record companies’ revenues up 8.1 percent to US$3.4 billion in the first half of 2016.

It is the industry’s strongest result since the CD boom of the late 1990s.

The streaming boom has offset steep, continuing declines in sales of CDs and digital downloads, figures from the Recording Industry Association of America show.

Revenue from CD sales fell more than 16 percent, while revenue from digital singles dropped nearly 22 percent. Vinyl sales fell 6.3 percent to US$207 million on 8.4 million records.

Fueling the increase were subscription services such as Spotify and Apple Music, which offer unlimited access to 40 million-song catalogs for $10 a month.