Saturday is Record Store Day, and here's some more good news for vinyl lovers: revenue from sales of LPs rose an incredible 66.5 per cent last year, according to figures from the BPI (British Phonographic Industry).
Vinyl LPs now account for 15 per cent of revenue from sales of albums in physical formats, and 4.5 per cent of total record label revenues. The vinyl market is now worth 50 per cent of the album download market, and more than 60 per cent of the value of single track downloads.
Subscription streaming services continued to grow in popularity. The likes of Spotify's paid-for tier, Tidal and Qobuz now account for 87.1 per cent of the total streaming market of £274 million. Ad-supported free tiers made up just 3.6 per cent of revenues.
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In all, streaming revenues grew 61 per cent in 2016 when compared to 2015. Revenues from streaming now account for 30 per cent of overall label revenues, which is just below those from physical formats (32 per cent). Streaming revenues are expected to overtake those from physical formats this year.
UK record labels' trade income grew 5.1 per cent in 2016, putting it at a five-year high. However, the BPI sounded a note of caution. As well as warning of the dangers of Brexit stopping UK artists freely touring European countries and preventing UK businesses accessing the best talent, BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor noted "huge online platforms must pay fair royalties for the music they use". YouTube, we think he's talking about you.
He added: "UK record labels will continue to take huge risks backing emerging British talent and investing hundreds of millions of pounds annually to bring it to a global audience. With strong support from government, British music can continue to be a global success."
