Streaming was majority share of UK trade revenue in 2019

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.