Streaming accounts for two-thirds of recorded music industry income
The recorded music industry generates its revenue from a range of sources, including royalty payments from streaming services. Payments from streaming services continued to account for two-thirds of the industry’s total UK revenues in 2023, in line with previous years.
According to a recent report by Ofcom recorded music industry revenues from streaming grew by 8% to £962m in 2023. Over the same period, the total number of audio streams in the UK grew by 13% to reach 180bn.
Streaming services, including Spotify, have made changes to the way in which they pay royalties to rights-holders. Announced in November 2023, and operational from April 2024, Spotify now requires that a track has been streamed at least 1,000 times in the previous 12 months for it to generate royalties.
Music streaming services now reach half of all people aged 15+ weekly, but reach has stabilised among under-55s, with growth over the past couple of years only coming from those aged 55+.
Meanwhile, a fifth of people aged 15+ listen to at least one podcast per week, with reach highest among 25- to 34-year-olds. While older people are less likely to listen to podcasts, reach among people over 54 has steadily increased over the past five years, and just over one in ten people aged 65+ listened to podcasts each week.
How do you prefer to access the music to listen to – and are you someone who spends on formats like CDs and vinyl?
Duncan is a technology professional with over 20 years experience of working in various IT roles. He has a interest in cyber security, and has a wide range of other skills in radio, electronics and telecommunications.