NZ music industry sees first revenue growth in 15 years due to streaming services

Monday 11th April 2016

New Zealand musicians made more money from streaming services than any other source in 2015, with total revenue growing for the first time in 15 years, according to Recorded Music New Zealand.

Wholesale revenue rose 12 percent to $74.4 million in 2015, with streaming services more than doubling to $25.7 million, making it the largest contributor. In 2013, streaming services brought in $5 million in revenue, accounting for 7 percent of all revenue. That has since soared to account for 35 percent of all revenue.

“Streaming services are still relatively new in NZ but have quickly established themselves and are now the preferred method of music consumption by Kiwis,” chief executive Damian Vaughan said. "The popularity of music streaming has aided industry growth enormously and our industry is determined to build on the momentum."

Competition between streaming services has heated up since the launch of Apple Music in mid-2015. It had 11 million subscribers as of February this year and predicts it will have 20 million by the end of 2016. Its biggest competitor is Spotify, which has nearly 30 million paying subscribers.

Public performance and broadcast revenues for local artists increased 5 percent to $13.7 million while revenue from downloads slowed 18 percent to $15.7 million. Physical product sales dropped 10 percent to $19.3 million.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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