Yahoo – AFP,
Shaun TANDON, April 25, 2017
 |
| Drake was the most popular global artist of 2016 on the back of infectious singles such as the streaming sensation "One Dance" |
Music sales
rose robustly for a second straight year to show growth not seen in two decades
thanks to the rapid adoption of streaming, the global industry body said
Tuesday.
Despite
sliding CD sales and downloads, revenue from recorded music around the world
grew 5.9 percent in 2016 to total $15.7 billion, the International Federation
of the Phonographic Industry said.
The growth
tops the previous year's 3.2 percent increase and marks the fastest rate since
the group started to keep global statistics in 1997 -- when the recorded music
industry first suffered a jolt with the dawn of the internet age.
Streaming
revenue jumped 60 percent in 2016. Spotify led the way but the report said the
market was buoyed by rising consumer choice among on-demand platforms including
Apple Music, Tidal and Deezer.
Music
executives cautioned that the market remained fragile and that the industry
will need to keep adapting, with streaming only in its infancy.
"Remember,
we're only two years into our recovery after a decade and a half of
decline," Stu Bergen, CEO for international and global commercial services
at Warner Music Group, told reporters on a conference call.
"We
must remain alert, resourceful and ambitious. We're no longer running up a down
escalator, but that doesn't mean we can relax," he said.
Frances
Moore, CEO of the industry federation, said it was critical to work toward sustainable
growth in part by keeping up investment in artists, who ultimately carry the
music industry's fortunes.
She also
renewed calls for a global overhaul in regulations that allow internet
companies to skirt most responsibility for users' uploads -- which, music
executives charge, leads to unfairly low revenue from omnipresent video site
YouTube.
 |
Music
executives said that sales were propped up by the growing popularity,
and
competition, of paid streaming services led by Spotify and competitors
including Apple Music, Tidal and Deezer
|
Boom felt
around the world
Music sales
expanded in almost all major markets but growth was especially strong in
emerging economies with the help of local streaming players and cheaper
smartphones.
Revenue
soared 20 percent in China, 24 percent in Mexico and 26 percent in India. Latin
America grew more than any region at 12 percent, even though sales slipped
slightly in its most populous country Brazil.
The
industry body saw the potential for major growth ahead in China, which despite
its billion-plus population and rising middle class remains only the 12th
largest music market in the world.
Globally,
downloading revenue from sites such as iTunes tumbled more than 20 percent.
Physical sales slipped 7.6 percent although CDs remain a major force in the key
markets of Japan and Germany.
Michael
Nash, executive vice president for digital strategy at the world's largest
music group Universal, said the balance among formats was complex, with
downloads clearly slipping in the face of streaming but vinyl winning a growing
market among collectors.
"The
digital transition is not a journey with a beginning, middle and end --
physical to download to streaming," he said.
"It is
an ongoing transformation driven by a rate of technological change that shows
no signs of decelerating," he said.
The report
found that Canadian hip-hop superstar Drake was the most popular global artist
of 2016 on the back of infectious singles such as the streaming sensation
"One Dance."
Rock legend
David Bowie, who died last year, came in second, while Beyonce's conceptual
"Lemonade" was the top-selling album worldwide.
"Wild Cards" (3) - Nov 19 - 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)- (Text version)
"...Then there was Steve Jobs. He was a wild card. What he did had little to do with technology, for that would have happened anyway soon enough. Instead, it had to do with the paradigm of the business of music on Earth. He freed it, and the paradigm of how music is obtained and heard will never be the same. However, Steve Jobs did basically one thing for all of you, and then he died. Do you see any kind of connecting of the dots to some of the inventors who come and give you the one thing, then leave? If he had lived, would there be more? Yes, but you’re not ready for it. Consciousness has to support what happens. ...."
Related Article:
"Wild Cards" (3) - Nov 19 - 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)- (Text version)
"...Then there was Steve Jobs. He was a wild card. What he did had little to do with technology, for that would have happened anyway soon enough. Instead, it had to do with the paradigm of the business of music on Earth. He freed it, and the paradigm of how music is obtained and heard will never be the same. However, Steve Jobs did basically one thing for all of you, and then he died. Do you see any kind of connecting of the dots to some of the inventors who come and give you the one thing, then leave? If he had lived, would there be more? Yes, but you’re not ready for it. Consciousness has to support what happens. ...."
