Contents
- Music production software market statistics: U.S. DAW and plug-in retail estimates
- Music production software market statistics: annual software category changes
- Music production software market statistics: decade trends and computer-music mix
- music production software market: DAW use in a 2024 production-industry survey
- music production software market: DAW preferences among music makers and Turkish respondents
- music production software market: Music production workflows: spatial audio and mobile DAWs
- Sources
Music production software market statistics: U.S. DAW and plug-in retail estimates
The available commercial figures describe U.S. estimated retail value, not worldwide software revenue. NAMM’s 2025 report puts digital audio workstation (DAW) software at $210.0 million in 2024, down 2.9%. That estimate includes outright retail purchases and subscription software. Plug-in software reached an estimated $165.0 million, also down 2.9%, with the estimate including subscription and outright-sale revenue. The matching annual change does not mean the categories had equal sales: the reported dollar values differ, and each measure retains its own product scope. Source: 2025 NAMM Global Report, p. 29
| U.S. estimated retail value | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| DAW software | $210.0 million; down 4.6% | $210.0 million; down 2.9% |
| Plug-in software | $170.0 million; down 5.6% | $165.0 million; down 2.9% |
The 2023 estimates come from NAMM’s 2024 report. Its DAW value includes outright retail and subscription sales; its plug-in value includes subscription and outright-sale revenue. The figures above are reported dollar values and declines for each year, not a calculation of intervening sales or a forecast. Source: 2024 NAMM Global Report, p. 28 Source: 2025 NAMM Global Report, p. 29
For context, NAMM reports broader recording-category shipment value separately from software-only estimates. The broad U.S. recording category, which includes multitrack equipment, software, computer music, and related hardware, declined 8.2% to $721.9 million in 2023. In 2024, its estimated retail value of shipments declined 3.2% to $698.9 million. These category totals should not be read as software revenue: hardware is included. NAMM also reports recording hardware as its own comparator, at $208.9 million after an 11.9% decline in 2023 and $202.0 million after a 3.3% decline in 2024. Source: 2024 NAMM Global Report, p. 28 Source: 2025 NAMM Global Report, p. 29
Music production software market statistics: annual software category changes
NAMM’s annual charts give retail-value percentage changes for three software groupings. Recording and sequencing software declined 4.55% in 2023 and 2.86% in 2024. Total software declined 5.00% in 2023 and 2.98% in 2024. Plug-in and loop software declined 5.56% in 2023 and 2.94% in 2024. Each percentage refers to the report’s U.S. retail-value measure for that named category and year. Source: 2024 NAMM Global Report, p. 30 Source: 2025 NAMM Global Report, p. 31
| U.S. software category | 2023 retail-value change | 2024 retail-value change |
|---|---|---|
| Recording and sequencing software | -4.55% | -2.86% |
| Total software | -5.00% | -2.98% |
| Plug-in and loop software | -5.56% | -2.94% |
“Total software” is broader than DAW software. NAMM’s category note says it includes recording software packages, virtual instruments, sampling software, and educational software. The chart’s “recording and sequencing” and “plug-in and loop” labels likewise cover groupings that should not be treated as single-product sales lines. These annual changes show reported declines in both years across the three groupings; they do not identify the reasons for those changes. Source: 2024 NAMM Global Report, p. 30 Source: 2025 NAMM Global Report, p. 31
The adjacent broad-category context is also distinct from those software series. NAMM said the recording category’s 2023 retail value remained 18% above pre-pandemic levels. In its 2025 report, it said recording-product volumes in 2024 remained 16% above pre-COVID levels. The former is a comparison of retail value and the latter a comparison of volume; both refer to the broad category that includes hardware as well as software. Source: 2024 NAMM Global Report, p. 28 Source: 2025 NAMM Global Report, p. 29
Music production software market statistics: decade trends and computer-music mix
Across the 2015–2024 span shown in NAMM’s 2025 charts, U.S. retail value for recording and sequencing software had a reported 10-year trend of 56.92%. Total software’s reported trend was 133.54%, while plug-in and loop software’s was 489.29%. These are the report’s 10-year trend measures for each category; they are not annual growth rates. The larger trend figure for plug-in and loop software belongs to that defined grouping and period, and does not establish a future trajectory. Source: 2025 NAMM Global Report, p. 31
| NAMM U.S. software category | Reported retail-value trend, 2015–2024 |
|---|---|
| Recording and sequencing software | 56.92% |
| Total software | 133.54% |
| Plug-in and loop software | 489.29% |
NAMM’s computer-music retail-value mix provides another view, with software and hardware represented together. In the 2025 report’s presentation for 2024, recording and sequencing software accounts for 35.7% of the mix, plug-in and loop software for 28.9%, and sound cards and related hardware for 35.4%. The hardware share is a reminder that this is a computer-music market mix, not a software-only distribution. Source: 2025 NAMM Global Report, p. 31
The 2024 NAMM report presents the preceding mix: recording and sequencing software at 35.6%, plug-in and loop software at 28.9%, and sound cards and related hardware at 35.5%. That presentation pertains to the 2023 mix. Keeping the report vintage and underlying period explicit matters: the values are not two estimates for the same year. Source: 2024 NAMM Global Report, p. 30
music production software market: DAW use in a 2024 production-industry survey
Production Expert’s 2024 DAW survey drew over 5,000 respondents. Its results are percentages of responses, and respondents could select multiple DAWs. The percentages therefore describe selections in that survey; they are not exclusive shares of the DAW market. Among its “Music User” entries, Avid Pro Tools represented 24.56%, Apple Logic Pro 13.39%, PreSonus Studio One 9.09%, Ableton Live 5.94%, Steinberg Cubase 5.72%, Cockos REAPER 4.87%, Universal Audio LUNA 4.18%, Reason 2.09%, FL Studio 1.01%, and Bitwig Studio 1.01%. Source: Production Expert, “2024 DAW User Survey – The Results”
Those entries indicate a varied set of DAWs in a production-focused publication’s poll, with Pro Tools the largest listed music-user selection. Because multiple choices were allowed, adding these percentages would not yield an exclusive distribution of people across products. The survey is useful as a snapshot of responses from its audience, while its respondent count and response rules define how to interpret the figures. It does not establish global adoption or sales rankings. Source: Production Expert, “2024 DAW User Survey – The Results”
music production software market: DAW preferences among music makers and Turkish respondents
Sleepfreaks reports 3,867 respondents to its 2024 DAW survey. In its ranking, Cubase was selected by 1,538 respondents (39.8%), Studio One by 1,029 (26.6%), Logic Pro by 843 (21.8%), Ableton Live by 402 (10.4%), and FL Studio by 282 (7.3%). The ranking combines main and secondary DAW use, so one person may appear for more than one product. These counts and percentages describe Sleepfreaks’ survey audience, not exclusive market shares. Source: Sleepfreaks, “2024 DAW Survey: Rankings and Preferences of 3,867 Music Makers”
About 60% of Sleepfreaks respondents worked with a single DAW. The publication describes the survey as self-selected, and its age profile adds useful context: respondents aged up to 20 accounted for 16%, while those in their twenties accounted for 38%. These are characteristics of this poll’s respondents, not a profile of all music makers. Source: Sleepfreaks, “2024 DAW Survey: Rankings and Preferences of 3,867 Music Makers”
The 9th Annual Turkish DAW Usage Survey opened on November 18, 2024, and closed on January 16, 2025; it gathered 1,247 responses. The field period spans two calendar years, so the findings are best described as survey results from that period. Of respondents, 638 (51%) said they were professionally involved in music production, 550 (44%) pursued music production as a hobby, and 59 (5%) reported working in post-production audio for visual media. These reported activity categories describe the survey population. Source: Ufuk Önen, “9th Annual 2024 Turkish DAW Usage Survey”
Taken together, the three polls show why DAW preference figures need their population and response method alongside them. Production Expert permitted multiple selections; Sleepfreaks combined primary and secondary DAW use; and the Turkish survey reports its own respondents and activity profile. The polls offer evidence about their respective audiences, but none should be substituted for a representative global user count or a sales-based market-share measure. Source: Production Expert, “2024 DAW User Survey – The Results” Source: Sleepfreaks, “2024 DAW Survey: Rankings and Preferences of 3,867 Music Makers” Source: Ufuk Önen, “9th Annual 2024 Turkish DAW Usage Survey”
music production software market: Music production workflows: spatial audio and mobile DAWs
In the Turkish survey, 8% of participants said they were currently working with Dolby Atmos, up from 7% in the prior survey. A separate 21% said they had experienced Atmos. Among those who had experienced it, 52% planned to incorporate Atmos into their workflows; the source states this group represented 11% of all participants. The conditional percentage applies only to respondents with Atmos experience, while 11% uses the full survey population as its denominator. Source: Ufuk Önen, “9th Annual 2024 Turkish DAW Usage Survey,” Question 5
The same question identifies limits to exposure: 58% of respondents said they had not yet experienced an Atmos system, and 13% said they did not know what Dolby Atmos or spatial audio was. The survey also reports that 47% of its post-production respondents were already working with Dolby Atmos. That post-production figure has a narrower population than the overall survey results, so it should not be compared as if both percentages had the same denominator. Source: Ufuk Önen, “9th Annual 2024 Turkish DAW Usage Survey,” Question 5 and Post-Production Perspective
Mobile DAW use was limited in the Turkish poll: 73% of participants said they did not use a DAW on mobile devices. The source says results in previous survey years ranged from 75% to 78% for respondents who did not use a mobile DAW. These figures describe the survey’s historical responses and do not specify which mobile operating systems, devices, or DAW tasks respondents considered. Source: Ufuk Önen, “9th Annual 2024 Turkish DAW Usage Survey,” Question 6