Spain’s Music Market Surges in First Half of 2019, With Gains in Digital and Even CDs
Subscription services reap 41% more income than a year ago in Spain.
Music sales in Spain surged some 27% in the first half of 2019, with subscription streaming services income up 41% over the same period in 2018.
According to a new report from Spanish recording industry association Promusicae, Spain’s population spent €140.7 million euros (about $155 million) on music in streaming and physical formats.
The increase in music sales from January to June 2019 was the biggest since 2001, when Spain’s piracy-plagued industry took a nosedive, Promusicae reported.
What the report calls “the unstoppable rise of streaming,” principally by subscription but also ad-supported, is the main force behind the new figures.
Almost 77% of music revenue in Spain now comes from digital streaming and sales.
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Nevertheless, sales of vinyl and CDs in Spain also increased in the first half of the year. Vinyl record sales increased to €7.7 million (about $8.5 million) over €5.1 million (almost $5.7 million) in the same period in 2018. And CD sales increased almost 8% over the first six months of last year, rising for the first time since 2014.
Promusicae president Antonio Guisasola called the news “excellent.”
“A new framework for the music industry has been created that is now functioning at full efficiency,” he said in a statement. “Despite the difficulties that result from a high rate of piracy. If we maintain the effort to reduce it, the digital market [in Spain] will experience a moment of consolidation and maturity.”