There is very little doubt that streaming music is big business these days. North America is getting all it can handle when it comes to streaming music companies but America is hardly the only place where the technology is popular. In European countries, the streaming music business is humming right along thanks to companies like Spotify. That company has helped make streaming music a huge success in countries like Sweden, where streaming music now makes up more than 70 percent of the total market share of all music purchases.

The Swedish Recording Industry Association (GLF) has put a new report that indicates that physical music sales are making up just 25 percent of total sales. The other five percent of music sales are those that are downloaded to a hard drive to own. Streaming music allows for people to download music but not actually keep it on a hard drive. The growth to 70 percent of the market share shows just how quickly this particular industry is growing. At the end of 2012, the market share for streaming music was sitting at 57 percent.

The sheer number of different companies that are getting into the business seems to be a good indicator that the number will only continue to grow. While people used to spend hours at their favorite record store looking for just the right album, record stores in general are largely a thing of the past. It seems as if downloading songs and keeping them in your home is becoming a part of the past as well.

While music sales in general are not where they were 10 years ago, the industry seems to be making some real gains. In Sweden, the sales of music overall grew by more than 12 percent in the first half of 2013. Sales numbers have been increasing quickly since 2008.