Online Music Streaming Doubles In UK In 2013
Online music streaming in the UK has doubled in the last year, according to new figures.
But that has come at the expense of album sales, which have seen an overall dip during 2013 due to the decline in CD sales as people turn to digital listening.
Research by music trade body the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and the Official Charts Company shows 7.4 billion tracks were played on paid-for or ad-funded streaming services in the last year – twice the 3.7 billion figure of 2012.
Around £103m was brought in over the past 12 months by subscription services – up £26m on the previous year.
The total income generated by streaming will be much higher as the figure does not include the cash from advertising on free streams and on services such as YouTube.
Album sales were worth £772m last year, which is down £29m compared with the previous year.
Arctic Monkeys were the most streamed artists in the UK
CD sales of 60.6 million were down almost 13% on 2012, but still account for almost two-thirds of the album markets in the UK.
Digital sales of 32.6 million – up nearly 7% – now represent almost 35% of the total market.
Rock quartet Arctic Monkeys were the most streamed artists of the year.
The band, who headlined Glastonbury and whose fifth album AM was nominated for the Mercury Prize, beat Bastille into second place, with French duo Daft Punk third.
The biggest-selling album of the year was the compilation Now That’s What I Call Music 86, selling 1.1 million copies, way ahead of the biggest seller by an artist which was One Direction’s Midnight Memories, shifting 685,000 copies.
A report in trade magazine Music Week last month said 2013 is the first year since the 1980s in which there has been no million-album-selling artist in the UK.
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