Music streaming worldwide: British music industry experiences record year despite pandemic

Dua Lipa at this year's Grammy Awards

Photo:

LUCY NICHOLSON / REUTERS

Despite the corona pandemic, the British music industry can look back on a record year.

British musicians

last year made a turnover of almost 520 million pounds abroad (around 605 million euros), as the BBC reported on Wednesday.

According to the British Phonographic Industry, that's six percent more than in 2019.

While the income from live concerts was largely absent due to the pandemic, a large part of the money came from streaming from abroad.

According to the BBC, one in ten songs streamed worldwide was by British artists.

The worldwide popularity of classics such as the Beatles, Queen, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones also contributed to the record numbers.

300 musicians from Great Britain were able to record more than 100 million streams for themselves.

The biggest hit in the country was Dua Lipa's “Don't Start Now”.

The club anthem was streamed a total of 1.62 billion times.

The numbers come at a time when musicians and songwriters are increasingly protesting the way streaming services are handling their work.

Artists hardly benefit from the streams of their songs, a large part of the portion from the pot in which advertising income and subscription fees flow goes to a few megastars.

A practice that artists have been criticizing for years.

sak / dpa