Digital music overtakes CD sales for the first time
As we look to digital music services for our music on our iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, income from digital music is increasing. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has announced that income from digital downloads and music streaming has overtaken sales from physical music for the very first time.
The BPI confirmed that digital music revenue accounted to 55.5 per cent of record industry revenues in the first quarter of 2012, as total income from all digital sources have so far topped £86.5 million, while revenue from physical formats fell by 15.1 per cent to £39.3 million.
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A lot of the revenue has come from both digital albums. Sales of digital albums continue to outstrip sales of singles, with sales increasing by nearly 23 per cent.
Another huge chunk comes from paid-for subscription services from the likes of Napster and Spotify, where income is doubling year-on-year as music lovers turn to premium music streaming services for their tune fix.
Free, ad-supported forms of each streaming service are also doing their bit to add to the musical coffers, bringing in £3.4 million, an increase of 20 per cent from the same period last year.
It’s all good news for the UK’s music industry BPI Chief Executive Geoff Taylor said: “This is a significant milestone in the evolution of the music business. UK record labels have embraced digital to their core, supporting innovation and licensing more new online and mobile services than any other country. As a result, the industry’s prospects for growth look brighter than for several years.”
And with more music streaming avenues available, the future of digital music in the UK should continue to be brighter. Samsung for example recently announced plans for its Samsung Music Hub – a new music store that will first be available from the Samsung Galaxy S3, primed to take on Apple’s iTunes music store.
If you’ve yet to get on the digital music bandwagon, then be sure to check out our guide to the best music streaming services at the link below. Fellow music streamers: which service are you using right now?
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