Enlarge image
Music streaming on an iPad: trend towards digital music use unbroken
Photo: Daniel Bockwoldt / dpa
Music fans in Germany are increasingly shopping digitally: the audio stream business has continued to grow in the German music industry.
After further growth of 9.1 percent in the first six months of the year compared to the same period of the previous year, this format achieved a share of 73.3 percent in total sales, as reported by the Federal Association of the Music Industry (BVMI) in its half-year trend report.
This means that 80.2 percent of the proceeds from music sales in Germany are now generated digitally.
Overall, the industry turned over 967 million euros in the first six months of the year - an increase of 5.5 percent compared to the same period last year.
Spotify is one of the largest and most important streaming services in the audio sector.
The majority of the approximately eight million musicians have only made very little money with it so far.
However, the Swedish company paid out more than ever before in 2021 at seven billion dollars.
Another fifth of the turnover from the sale of sound carriers
In the so-called physical sound carrier market, the comeback of the record continues.
According to BVMI information, sales in the booming vinyl business increased by a remarkable 12.3 percent, and the market share was 6.2 percent.
The CD is still declining (minus 6.5 percent in sales) - but had lost significantly more in the first half of 2021 (minus 16.4 percent).
The market share was 12.8 percent.
All in all, just under a fifth of total sales (19.8 percent) are still being achieved with sales of recorded music.
"The general trend towards digital music usage with the simultaneous continued importance of the physical segment is unbroken," said BVMI CEO Florian Drücke.
He spoke of the fact that it is about constantly opening up new additional sources of income for the member companies and their artists.
The BVMI represents the interests of around 200 record producers and companies, which represent more than 80 percent of the German music market.
apr/dpa
