Online streaming behind music industry's revenue turnaround

The Australian music industry's revenues have risen for the first time in three years, driven by a doubling of income from music streaming services.

Just released figures from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) show a 5% increase in the value of Australian recorded music in 2015, the first upwards trend the industry's had in its wholesale figures since 2012.

The turnaround has been driven by a continued uptake in digital streaming, which now accounts for 62% of the overall market.

While the value of subscription-based digital streaming services, including services like Spotify and Apple Music, doubled from $23 million to $46 million, digital downloads and CD sales continued their decline.

Digital downloads went down by almost 13%, while CD sales fell 4%, notably less than the 18% decline in 2013.

ARIA's statistics also showed vinyl sales increased by 38% in 2015.

Online services have come under fire from big name artists - including industry heavyweights like Taylor Swift, who say they are not paying enough royalties to artists.

A recent analysis by Death and Taxes showed Spotify paid $0.00521 per song stream which gets to artists via record labels and licensing organisations.

In the Australian music scene, most artists feel the exposure is worth it, despite the lack of pay per stream.

Al Grigg from indie band Palms does not know how much revenue he makes from Spotify, but estimates it is miniscule.

Grigg told the ABC’s triple j “even if it's a tiny royalty, it's probably better than people just downloading it for free.

"More people are hearing the band, and maybe then more people are liking the band, and they will buy a ticket and come and see you play live or they might buy a T-shirt, and then you are making your money that way."

Dan Nevin from Australia's independent music companies trade body AIR said working out how to maximise that exposure on streaming services was difficult.

Nevin added “it's great that independent artists can have their music found on a service that also has the biggest artists in the world, that is a fantastic thing.

"The flip side to that is the whole discovery element. How do we get opportunities on these big multinational streaming services?"

29th November 2015 - SOCIAL MEDIA IMPACTS MASS PARTICIPATION SPORTING EVENTS

13th October 2015 - GOODLIFE HEALTH CLUBS PARTNERS MUSIC STREAMING START-UP GUVERA

21st September 2015 - AVERAGE AUSTRALIAN SPENDS JUST OVER $20 PER YEAR ON MUSIC

13th August 2015 - LIVE MUSIC WORTH OVER $15 BILLION TO AUSTRALIA IN 2014 

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