UK record industry registers 5.1% growth in 2016

UK record industry registers 5.1% growth in 2016

Good news for the UK record industry, which saw a 5.1% growth in revenues in 2016 - according to new stats released by trade body the BPI today.

In line with the various stats packs put out in recent weeks by record industry trade groups in various other countries, the key trend was that a boom in subscription streaming drove a return to growth, while the key message is that the growth isn’t enough because of fucking YouTube.

Overall recorded music income for the record companies (excluding any live, merch, brand or publishing income labels see from so called 360 degree deals with artists) was up 5.1% to £926 million. That’s the highest total for the UK record industry in five years.

Although sync, vinyl and PPL income was all up year-on-year in 2016, it was streaming that really enabled that growth, by which we mean paid-for streaming. Streaming revenues at large were up 61% last year, but 87.1% of the streaming monies came from premium services. Ad income from free audio streams was just 3.6% of streaming revenue, while video platforms – which mainly means YouTube – generated 9.3% of that income.