At the halfway mark in the year, many countries that had previously seen their total sales slip recently have actually recorded increases, and all of it has come from digital music.
Germany, Italy, Sweden and Norway have all seen their CD sales drop by varying amounts, yet their total sales have risen, with streaming revenues rising to the forefront, according to Nielsen. The US and Canada also saw sales increase, although total revenue figures haven't been released.
One of the trends that mostly continues downward is what's known in the industry as Overall Album Consumption (OAC). It's increasingly turning into a single song world as more and more people abandon not only album purchases, but listening via streaming as well.
Interestingly enough, OAC is down in most countries, but actually increased by 14% in the first half of the year in the United States. No definitive reason has been sited, but the feeling is that the figure will even out by the end of the year, yet still stay in the positive range.
What do these figures mean? It means that more and more people are paying for music. Where many consumers previously got their music for free either through piracy or via a free streaming tier, an increasing number are turning to streaming subscriptions.
Now with Apple Music finally launched, and with YouTube's Music Key around the corner, we should see additional increases by the end of the year. My prediction - we'll be surprised at how much the industry has grown at this time next year.
1 comment:
Wonder how bands such as Tool are performing sales wise. Tool do not allow their music on digital services that allow single song downloads or plays which of course restricts the services greatly.
I wonder if their album sales are consistent or also suffering.
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