Nichy Loh | TAS | Getty Images  Taylor Swift performs at Singapore Indoor Stadium on June 9, 2014 in Singapore.  The numbers don't lie. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, music industry revenue totaled $15 billion in 2003 and that figure fell by more than half to only $7 billion by 2013. When looking specifically at the number of albums sold, Nielsen SoundScan reports that the U.S. is selling 30 million fewer albums than just two years ago, now at nearly 121 million albums. This trend is also being seen with U.S. digital album sales, which saw a decline of nearly 16 million to 113 million units in just the last year.  What's keeping the industry barely afloat is music streaming. According to the Nielsen SoundScan 2014 mid-year report, music streaming for the first half of 2014 saw a 42% increase compared to last year, but that growth isn't enough to offset the decline in physical and digital CD sales.  Rolling Stone contributor and former Editor-in-Chief of both VIBE and Spin magazines Alan Light disagrees that it's all doom and gloom for the music biz. One bright spot he points to in the Nielsen SoundScan report is that vinyl sales are up 40% since last year.  "What we've seen is fans will pay for stuff whether it's Jack White's record club or Nine Inch Nails doing limited releases," remarked Light. "Albums at this point need to be souvenirs. They need to be experiental. We see it now with the phenomenon around 'Frozen.' This is selling albums through the roof because kids want to retain that relationship, sing the songs over and over, have that souvenir."  Technology's impact won't stop at just disrupting the music industry's business model. Light reveals you can also expect it to change what you listen to.  "The Shuffle generation is coming of age. You see the DJ Avicii has a huge hit with a country singer," Light said. "Country and hip hop are fusing, and that's what country radio sounds like now. I think we now have kids who've grown up listening to lots of things, and that should be good for where the music itself develops."
The 24-year-old stood up for the future of music in her op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal, saying he believes there's still value in albums