Any doubt that streaming music is the one and only future for the music industry was knocked on its head Monday with figures from Warner Music Group Corp. showing that the revenue from streaming services surpassed digital downloads for the first time.

Warner reported that overall digital revenue was up 7 percent for the quarter, but within those figures streaming revenues were up 33 percent, meaning that revenue from the sales of single’s from services such as Apple’s iTunes store must have decreased significantly over the quarter.

“In this quarter we saw continued growth in streaming revenue which surpassed download revenue for the first time in the history of our recorded music business” Warner Chief Executive Officer Stephen Cooper said in a statement. “Our commitment to being at the forefront of industry change as well as our ongoing investment in artist development is the foundation of our continued success.”

“This is an important milestone, and impressive considering the strong double-digit growth is coming on top of an increasingly significant base,” Cooper added. “The rate of this growth has made it abundantly clear to us that in years to come, streaming will be the way that most people enjoy music.”

The news from Warner comes as the company was reported to be pressuring Spotify Inc. to abandon its current ad-supported free streaming service in favor of its paid premium service only.

The future is now…Ms Swift

While the Luddites of the likes of Taylor Swift may bemoan the rise of streaming services such as Spotify, Warner’s figures indicate clearly that the future is here, and its form is streaming music.

It would have been nigh on impossible for futurists to have predicted ten or twenty years ago, when music piracy was at its peak, that people would happily pay a monthly subscription fee to be served a smorgasbord of music, but that’s exactly what they are doing in the millions.

The relaunch of Beat’s Music by Apple later this year may further build of the success streaming already has, and given it’s from the temple of Tim Cook it will accelerate the decline in sales of digital singles.

Warner won’t be the last music company to report that streaming has taken over their digital download sales.

Image credit: Eva Renalidi/ Flickr/ CC by 2.0