Spain’s subscription audio revenue leapt up in H1, but overall market barely moved

Spain’s music industry sales edged up slightly in the first half of 2018. Spanish industry body Promusicae reported €107.6 million in H1 sales, a less than 1% increase from the year-ago period. Although the overall market barely shifted, digital consumption showed a strong increase to secure almost three-quarters of the revenue total. Subscription audio contributed the lion’s share of the digital portion, with revenue growing 53% to €52.8 million in the half. Ad-supported audio streaming fell dramatically down 61.7% to €8.4 million in revenue, while ad-supported video streams provided revenue of €11.5 million. Download revenue also declined, falling 23% to €4.1 million.

“One of the priorities of our sector has been to promote the benefits of paid subscriptions in the new music services and it is comforting to see such positive results,” said Promusicae President Antonio Guisasola. “Consumers already assume as a normal thing to pay a small monthly fee to have access to all available music and enjoy it to the fullest.”

Anna Washenko