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Recorded Music NZ 2014 results: digital revenue on the rise while physical revenue decline continues

Although most consumers aren’t rushing out to purchase CDs anymore, the record industry is still chugging along. But, as illustrated by the latest stats from Recorded Music NZ, the revenue for the industry is increasingly coming from a very different source.     

The report, which was released earlier today indicates its key findings of the overall performance of our music industry and where revenue comes from for New Zealand recording artists, record companies and also looked at the performance of different consumption methods.

One find was that streaming continues to experience rapid growth, now representing 24 percent of all recorded music wholesale revenues by format compared to nine percent in 2013 and three percent in 2012.

According to the report, “public awareness and uptake of streaming services within New Zealand has grown significantly with streaming as a format claiming 15 per cent more of the overall revenue pie this year.”

The report says that digital services still remain the number one revenue source of revenue rights for owners accounting for 60 percent of all music sales by format, with physical music products accounting for the remaining 40 percent of the market, decreasing from 49 percent in 2013 and 58 percent in 2012.

One of Recorded Music NZ’s main findings was that music income sources are now more diversified, splitting into four sectors: physical product downloads, streaming, public performance and broadcast.

Recorded Music NZ chief executive Damian Vaughan says the diversification of revenue sources reflects the diversification of audiences and the way they consume music.

“This year more than ever we have seen revenue spread near equally across multiple and very diverse sources,” Vaughan says “This is a direct result of fans’ ability to purchase and listen to their favourite songs in so many new varied ways – from streaming and downloads to the local record store. That makes it more important than ever for record companies and recording artists to understand who their audience is, where they are and how they are consuming music. We really are spoilt for choice when it comes to our options in New Zealand and our artists have the ability now to reach their fans in a more meaningful and targeted way.”

Overall, in 2014, the NZ Recorded Music industry saw a slight decrease of just 0.8 percent percent in annual recorded music revenues.

According to the report, vinyl album sales were up more than 200 percent compared to 2013, making up slightly more than $1 million of revenue by format. NZ Recorded Music also found that public performance and broadcast had experienced steady gradual growth year on year and physical products and digital downloads remain important revenue streams, contributing $21.4 million and $19.1 million respectively in 2014.

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