Turns out streaming services have done more than give Kanye West the top spot on the Billboard charts.
It has been found that the revenue of Australian music sales has risen by 5% over the past three years thanks to the many fans of our homegrown talent who have turned to streaming services to indulge in our artists’ work. The total sales stood at a huge $333.8 million in 2015.
The Chairman of the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and Chairman & CEO of Sony Music Entertainment Australia & New Zealand Denis Handlin expressed his excitement for the growth in revenue.
“It is exciting to see our local industry return to growth in 2015. The music business has continued to manage its way through times of challenge and transition,” he said.
The total sales of both physical and digital downloads continued to fall by 3% and 12.96% respectively. However, the 10.6% rise in the total value of digital formats added $207.6 million to the market value, making up 62% of the over 300 million dollar total.
If you consider these findings in the ‘Are Streaming Services Killing The Music Industry’ debate, it’s pretty obvious those who embrace streaming services are actually helping the industry. Sorry Taylor.
ARIA’s CEO Dan Rosen explained exactly what this meant for the future of the Australian music industry. “It is a testament to the ongoing innovation and resilience of our local music industry to see a return to growth in 2015,” he said. “Australian music fans are consuming more music than ever before and did so across an unpreceded[sic] number of formats from streaming and downloading on mobile devices, to buying CDs and vinyl at local record stores.”
He referenced the huge number of Australian artists making it big overseas and the successful releases over the past few months. “No doubt there is more to come, which will set the stage for celebrations later in the year of the 30th Anniversary of the ARIA Awards.” he said.
Handlin reminds us that the mission to protect the work of our artists from issues such as music piracy, while maintaining the idea that the availability of Australian music on streaming services is successfully helping sales in the long-run.
“This result is a credit to the continued high quality work being produced by our brilliant local artists, as well as to the tenacious approach our local industry takes in marketing and delivering music to fans across the country,” he said.
Keep an eye out for more Australian artists who are due to release new music very soon.
Image: The Music