Could Adele save music in 2015?
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Sales slide … Not even the mega downloads of Taylor Swift’s latest album could halt the decline in revenue for the music industry last year. Picture: supplied.
Source: Supplied
AUSTRALIANS are streaming more music, buying less and have fallen in love with vinyl again, according to the annual industry sales report.
Local artists and labels have something to worry about as the ARIA wholesale figures show another revenue drop of almost 10 per cent from music sales.
Streaming services including Spotify, Rdio and Pandora have risen in Australia, with revenue from subscriptions to the on-demand players more than doubling last year and now worth $ 23 million.
ARIA predicts the trend to continue this year as Apple and YouTube launch their streaming models.
Big spenders … Australians bought more copies of Ed Sheeran’s X record last year than any other release. Picture: Justin Lloyd.
Source: News Corp Australia
The hipster-fuelled vinyl revival is probably more music to the ears of artists than their label bosses.
While sales of those shiny black discs jumped by 127 per cent, only 277,767 records were sold in Australia last year compared to 12,563,714 CDs.
Australian music fans have been slower to switch to downloads than the rest of the world because of slow internet speeds and a preference for physical product over digital files.
CD album sales still account for more revenue than digital ones in Australia with the discs making the industry $ 115 million last year compared to $ 67 million for downloaded albums.
ARIA mysteriously did not include how many singles or albums were downloaded last year in the report despite revealing a 10 per cent decrease in the value of digital tracks and no movement in the download album market.
A lack of hit records from major artists had a big impact on sales last year with only Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, INXS and the Frozen soundtrack delivering multi-platinum albums in the past 12 months.
Rihanna recovery … The music industry will be hoping new records from the Diamonds singer, Kanye West and Adele will boost revenue in 2015. Picture: Getty Images.
Source: Getty Images
The industry is hoping new releases from Kanye West, Florence and the Machine, Adele, Troye Sivan, Jessica Mauboy, Rihanna, Madonna, Mumford and Sons, James Bay, Justin Bieber, Daniel Johns, Mark Ronson, Bjork, Kelly Clarkson, Radiohead and Fleetwood Mac will turn the tide in 2015.
