Global streaming music revenues increase 40 per cent
New research suggests on-demand streaming music services such as Spotify and We7 will make £696 million for the music industry this year.
According to a report by industry analysts Strategy Analytics, these services will grow by 40 per cent and will overtake downloads as the fastest growing sector of the industry.
Downloads have increased by only 8.5 per cent this year, whereas CDs and vinyl still dominate the global music industry, accounting for 61 per cent of all music sold around the world.
However the UK music market has contracted during the first six months of the year, with sales of physical products dropping by 30 per cent.
Strategy Analytics predicts total music spending will fall by 16 per cent in the UK this year, compared to 2.6 per cent globally.
"The extent of the decline took us a bit by surprise," said Ed Barton, Strategy Analytics’ director of digital media to the BBC.
Barton believes the lack of new material from pop and rock’s biggest artists may be the reason for the drop.
"The quality of the release slate was simply not desirable enough to drive the levels of spending we’ve seen in previous years," he told the BBC.
"Maybe something will come along - even one of the compilations of songs from the Olympics ceremonies - which will give us something to shout about going forward."
The company predicts spending on digital music at home and abroad would overtake physical products in 2015. Barton says that streaming services will be at the forefront of this growth.
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