Streaming drives first significant rise in music industry revenues since 1998
China leads rise in sales of licensed music, with near-64 per cent increase, as global digital-music sales outstrip physical album sales for first time; industry still a third smaller than 20 years ago
The recorded music industry has enjoyed its first significant growth since the dawn of the internet age, as streaming led digital to overtake physical sales, according to a global trade body.
Recorded music revenue expanded by 3.2 per cent in 2015 worldwide to US$15 billion, fuelled by an extraordinary growth in subscriptions to streaming services, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
The growth is the first uptick in the music industry at a more than marginal level since 1998, when sales grew 4.8 per cent year-on-year.
But the industry is still down by one-third since the late 1990s, when internet service became mainstream in developed countries and listeners flocked to music sites, both legal and illicit.