Dominance of streaming sites suggested by Norwegian music sale hikes
Norway’s music sale figures for 2012 have turned some industry heads:
money made from streaming sites has now tripled since 2010 – and for the first time has contributed towards a 7% increase in overall revenue there.
The figures clearly feed into the increasing dominance of online sales, with physical releases dropping to 38.5%, while digital sales flew up to take up 61.5% of the market share. To compare this to some UK sale figures – potentially hinting that we’re still rather behind our European neighbours in relation to the online arena – digital sales still only accounted for 23.5% of the market share last year.
Obviously while only speaking to the specific situation in the internet-savvy Scandinavian country, the fact that streaming sites like Spotify and Rdio generated 116% more income than in 2011, certainly speaks to the rising dominance of stream-based listening. Of course as Music Ally rightly raise, the next step in fully contextualising these figures would be to pinpoint the commercial fair of Norway-based artists following these rises. Debate around streaming ad-sites and artist revenue has back and forthed for some time, and it does at least feel like there’s been clearer explanation offered on how a service such as Spotify pays out major labels and independent imprints alike. But while the statistics may offer industry optimism, you are lead by the feeling we’re yet to reach the point where a service that fully speaks to all the moral and monetary implications in relation to online streaming has manifested.