Revenue from UK music sales other than subscription streaming grew by 7.9% in the first half of 2024, outpacing equivalent revenues in both the video and gaming sectors, according to the latest stats from the trade body for entertainment retailers and digital entertainment platforms, ERA.
The total value of non-streaming music sales in the UK, including vinyl, CDs and downloads, reached £163.8 million. Of that headline figure, vinyl sales accounted for £86.3 million, while CD sales brought in £57.9 million. That represents a year-on-year increase of 13.5% for vinyl and 3.2% for CDs, confirming the recent trend of physical music sales stabilising and growing.
Both Record Store Day and Taylor Swift helped boost physical sales in the first half of the year, with Swift scoring the biggest selling album and biggest selling physical single release of the year so far, with ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ and ‘Fortnight’ respectively.
Commenting on the stats, ERA CEO Kim Bayley says, “This is a striking result for music, driven most notably by Taylor Swift and Record Store Day. It was clear back in April the impact they have had on the vinyl sector, but they seem to have lifted the market as a whole too”.
Although physical music sales in the UK are back in growth, subscription streaming still brings in the vast majority of money for recorded music. Full revenue stats for the streaming market for the first six months of this year are not yet available.
Spotify will release its full financials for the first six months of 2024 on 23 Jul, with Deezer following on 30 Jul, and Universal Music and Warner Music publishing their financials on 24 Jul and 8 Aug. Those will all provide some insight into streaming market trends.
However, in 2023 streaming accounted for 84% of UK music retail revenues, meaning that if the same split is maintained for the first six months of this year, the UK music sector is on course to book over £1 billion in overall retail revenues for the period 1 Jan to 30 Jun.
That aside, the continued growth in physical music sales is welcome news for the industry and, as ERA’s new stats reveal, non-subscription revenues are growing faster in music than in the other two big strands of entertainment retail, video and gaming.
Compared to the 7.9% growth in music sales, non-subscription revenues in video – including DVD, Blu-ray, downloads and digital rental – were up 5.4%. And in gaming, non-subscription revenues – which includes physical products and full game downloads – were down 29.4%
Although, remember, videos and gaming bring in significantly more revenues overall, meaning that non-subscription income for both strands still exceed music, even though music has seen the most growth. So total non-subscription revenues so far this year are £213.7 million in video and £348.6 million in games, compared to the £163.8 million in music.
On the gaming stats, Bayley adds, “It was a tough first half for the games business with a lack of heavy-hitting releases, but we are optimistic for a strong second half, the traditional time for blockbuster releases”.