72% of the recorded music revenues in Denmark are now from streaming

Digital music is taking over in Denmark: 88% of music companies’ revenue comes now from digital music sales with IFPI figures showing that revenue from streaming has risen by 14% compared to the same period in 2014. Physical sales fell by 35% year-on-year and downloads dropped by 13% in the period: Streaming constituted 72% of the market in H1 2015, downloads accounted for 16%, while sales of physical products only claimed 12% of the market by value.

Spotify has a 49% share of the subscription streaming market

Spotify now has a 49% share of the paid-for music streaming market, according to new MBW research – just as Apple and YouTube ready new services to tackle its dominance. The Swedish streaming platform released its full-year financial results last week, posting a €162m net loss despite revenues of €1.08bn in revenues, of which €982.9m ($1.11bn) came from subscriptions and €98.9m ($113m) was derived from free users.

In terms of ad-funded or ‘freemium’ streaming users – including YouTube and Vevo, as well as Spotify’s free tier – the IFPI concluded that these equated to $641m in 2014. Spotify’s own ad-funded revenue in 2014 stood at €98.9m – $113m ($111m)  - giving it just a 12% share.

And with the debate abouts subscription vs freemium streaming services a hot topic, Rdio has launched what some aer calling a 'medium' streaming service - a $3.99 package called Rdio Select. Rdio boss Anthony Bay, speaking to Buzzfeed, said: "We've all been flying airplanes that had business class only. There is no coach". 

http://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/spotifys-dominance-of-music-streaming-laid-bare/

Streaming revenues, downloads and physical sales approach parity in US

Figures from the U.S. show the increasing importance of streaming for the recorded music sector as the  shift from physical to digital, and from download to stream continues.  2014 figures from the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA) show revenues getting ever closer to being split three ways between physical, downloads and streams:  27% of US recorded music revenues now come from streaming services is in no small part down to SoundExchange whose compulsory licence revenue very nearly equalled revenues from fully on-demand streaming services like Spotify, which are licensed by the labels directly although SoundExchange treats likes of Sirius - a satellite radio service - as streaming revenue. Directly-licensed freemium services brought in about a third of what was made from directly-licensed subscription services last year, despite having many more users, but that doesn't include ad-funded services using SoundExchange licenses, such as Pandora. RIAA figures show download revenues down 8.7% so that they represent 37% of the wider market, while CD sales were down 12.7% meaning that, despite the 'vinyl revival', physical product accounted by 32% of income. 

WMG streaming income grows

Warner Music Group's income from streaming grew by $215 million in the year up to 30 September - up from $86 million the previous year. Most of the increase - $200 million - came through the company's recorded music division. The smallest of the music majors saw annual revenues increase to just over $3 billion, 40% of which came from digital services. 

Guardian goes Live

The Guardian has allied itself with LoveLive and Spotify and will host a number of live streams on their site over the next few months, including Haim, John Newman and Disclosure. A single track from the Disclosure show, from their headline set at London's Alexandra Palace on 8 March, will go live via www.theguardian.com on Monday 14th April, with the whole set made available to stream the next day. The 'Guardian Live Lock-up'  is planned for twelve weeks in all.

AMP call for a fair share for artists

The newly formed Artists, Mangers & Performers coalition - AMP - an alliance between the Musicians' Union, the Music Managers' Forum and the Featured Artists Coalition, has confirmed that it is pushing for all streaming income from the digital sphere to be shared by labels with their artists on a 50/50, rather than paid over on standard terms for manufactured record sales and download revenue. Justifying that argument, MU General Secretary John Smith said "It is no longer necessary for a record company to pay to manufacture, store and distribute physical product. In the pre-digital era, artists understood that these costs went some way to justifying the low royalty rate. There are none of these costs associated with streaming, so why are the labels paying a royalty based on a physical sale?" AMP has been mainly formed so that the MU, FAC and MMF can present a united front on royalty issues in the European Commission's latest review of the EU Copyright Directive, the public consultation for which has just reached its conclusion. The three trade groups have submitted a joint statement on the digital income debate to European officials.

Streaming news!

Soghu has reached a settlement with the major record labels in in China  who had sued Sogou and its owner over the MP3 search facility it offered, which the labels said was a gateway to illegal content. Under the agreement, the labels will forget past grievances, and Sogou will become a customer, licensing music for a new streaming and download service, which will be seemingly free to the user (and therefore presumably funded by advertising). The deal echoes that reached in 2011 with another once controversial Chinese search engine, Baidu: elsewhere in streaming news, Apple's much and long mooted streaming service is taking longer than the tech giant would like to reach market because of the firm's royalty offer, with the record labels unhappy with Apple’s current royalty plans; And streaming service Pandora has announced that its revenues were up 56% for the financial year ended 31 Jan, thanks mainly to an increase in mobile revenue, though losses were nevertheless up, from $16.1 million to $38.1 million, attributed to rising content costs. Finally on streaming, O2 has launched a massive £7.3 million ad campaign for O2 Tracks, an interesting mobile-based streaming service that went online last month.

Microsoft tries music - again

Microsoft  has launched another new music service under the Xbox brand, rather than the Zune label, used by the company for its music ventures since 2006. Xbox Music will include a streaming service with an ad-funded "freemium" option, as well as a ten dollars a month ad-free subscription package that will also work with Xbox consoles and Windows smartphones.

German-based Spotify competitor Simfy last week withdrew its ad-supported freemium service from the Belgian market, telling users that licensing costs in the country were just too high. The subscription-based premium service will continue to be available in the country, where Simfy launched last November. And in other news, Spotify is planning a launch in Japan, and is in talks with labels with an eye in a launch in early 2013. 

Steaming storms Sweden

Sweden, home of Spotify's Daniel Ek, is leading the way in digital music with digital now accounting for 63.5% of all music revenues - and streaming accounting for a whopping 89% of digital music sales and with labels now seeing seeing impressive royalty payments coming in from  streaming, mainly from Spotify. Universal Music Sweden MD Per Sundin said that the major was back at "the same revenue levels as during 2004, and if the development continues in the same way we'll be back on turnover similar to those during the 'golden days' of the CD in just a few years"