Spotify Streaming Boosts Music Sales In Sweden

COLOGNE, Germany – Music revenue in Sweden shot up 30.1 percent in the first six months of this year, thanks mainly to online music service Spotify.

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Figures released by Swedish recording industry association GLF show that revenue from streaming music online jumped 79.4 percent to $40 million (SEK 252.7 million) compared with the first half of last year. Digital music sales now account for 89 percent of total music revenues in Sweden.

Spotify, whose online streaming service dominates the Swedish market, appears to be cannibalizing other areas of the business. Physical sales of albums, singles and music videos dipped 2.2 percent to $23.2 million while digital downloads from iTunes and similar services fell 14 percent to $4.37 million. Overall, however, growth in revenue from streaming outpaced the drop in other areas.

The GLF’s statistics reveal the hardest hit segment of Sweden’s music industry were already dwindling single sales, which fell 35.2 percent to $570,000. Meanwhile, sales of vinyl albums were up 37.4 percent in the first half, although they not account for just 1.2 percent of total music sales in the territory.