Germany’s music sector generated revenue of €1.48 billion in 2014, according to the Federal Association of the Music Industry’s year-in-review. That total marked a roughly 1.8% increase from 2013.
Many of the countries that have released year-end reports showed strong increases in streaming revenue while sales of physical formats plummeted; it happened last year in the U.S., in Canada, and in Australia. Germany bucked that trend, with a small 1% decrease in physical music sales. Even with 12% growth in the digital music business thanks to streaming, CDs and records accounted for a whopping 75% of the country’s music sales. The continued success of CDs makes Germany an interesting market to watch this year.