BPI, the British music industry group, released its 2019 trade income report. The results reflect the income generated by record labels during the year. Thanks to annual growth of 7.3%, record label trade income reached nearly £1.07 billion. The result marks the highest annual trade income for the UK in more than a decade and caps a fourth consecutive year of growth.
Streaming trade income increased 21.8% to £628.9 million. The segment is now a majority of record label trade income with a 58.8% share. Subscriptions were responsible for 90.4% of that figure, for trade income of £568.8 million. Ad-supported audio streaming generated just £24.8 million, compared with £35.3 million for ad-supported video streaming.
Physical formats had a 20.2% share of total trade income, pulling in £215.8 million. CDs were the biggest physical format with a 13.3% share of the industry total. However, vinyl is continuing to grow, and now has a 6.2% share of the overall trade income.