Spending on recorded music in the U.K. hit £1.4b ($1.9b) in 2019, rising 7.1% and marking a fifth consecutive year of growth. The streaming market exceeded the billion pound mark for the first time, according to preliminary stats from the Entertainment Retailers’ Association (ERA), while vinyl has now surpassed the value of downloads.
Subscription streaming represents 71% of total spend on music at retail in Blighty after rising 23.5% year-to-year to reach £1b. The physical music market dipped 17% last year to £318m (representing 23% of the music retail market) while revenue from downloads declined 26.8% to £89.7m (6% of the market).
Vinyl sales again bucked the physical trend, increasing 6.4% to £97.1m (7% of the overall market). That means that, for the first time in the digital era, vinyl has surpassed the value of downloads—in 2018 the value of vinyl stood at £91.3m while downloads were worth £122.6m (6.9% and 9.2% of the market respectively).
