Germany: Streaming was a quarter of the 2016 music market

German music association BVMI released its year-end report on the domestic industry. Germany’s music business grew 2.4% in 2016, a fourth year of upward progress. The key takeaway for last year was that streaming is holding a steady share in this country that has long favored physical formats. Streaming grew 73.1%, the highest growth rate within the overall industry, and it now holds a market share of 24.3%. Even though digital downloads dropped 19.4% in revenue, the combined digital market has grown to be 38% of the industry.

Physical sales hold the remaining 62% of the market. That’s a smaller slice than the 69.1% it reported in 2015. CDs alone contributed a 53.7% share in 2016, but the format’s revenue did fall 9.6%.

“The streaming business was able to more than offset the decline in physical sales with a significant increase of 73 percent,” BVMI Managing Director Florian Drücke said. “Indeed, it was once more that unique mix of digital and analogue that fuelled and shaped the German market – and ultimately made for a convincing year in the music business.”