In the 17 years after Napster and file sharing unleashed havoc on the music industry, record labels mainly relied on paid downloads and dwindling physical sales to keep the business afloat.But in 2016, for the first time ever, streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music became the primary moneymakers for the labels, according to newly released data from the Recording Industry Association of America.Streaming services accounted for 51 percent of total U.S. music revenue in 2016 — about $3.9 billion — from a mix of paid subscription services (Spotify Premium, Apple Music), ad-supported services (free Spotify, YouTube), and internet radio (Pandora). That's a 68 percent increase from 2015 streaming revenues, and PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated in 2016 that total streaming revenues for the entire industry (not just the labels) could grow to about $11 billion by 2020.Read the rest of this story on VICE NEWS.