UK music industry

River Thames as seen from London. Photo Credit: Georg Eiermann

Thanks in large part to continued streaming and vinyl growth, the UK music industry generated all-time-high recorded revenue during 2024, according to newly released data.

That data comes from the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (ERA) and follows separate 2024 sales figures from the British Phonographic Industry. As we reported, the BPI pointed to 9.7% YoY growth for album equivalent sales at 200.5 million units.

Now, the ERA has identified a 7.4% YoY improvement in UK music industry revenue, to about $2.95 billion/£2.39 billion. While inflation means the total is still well beneath the market’s peak in terms of actual value, the sum technically topped the previous record high (achieved in 2001) of $2.74 billion/£2.22 billion, the ERA noted.

Behind the 2024 figure, overall physical sales spiked 6.2% YoY to $408.04 million/£330.1 million, per the breakdown. And within the category, vinyl revenue experienced a 10.5% YoY boost to $242.28 million/£196 million, against essentially flat CD revenue of $156.02 million/£126.2 million, according to the preliminary findings.

(Unsurprisingly, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department ranked first in total album sales, 783,820, and moved more vinyl copies than any other project, 111,937. All told, 6.7 million vinyl LPs sold in the UK during 2024, according to the BPI.)

Also in keeping with long-running commercial trends, streaming contributed the lion’s share of UK music industry revenue in 2024, $2.50 billion/£2.02 billion, up 7.8% YoY, the ERA found. Revenue growth is, of course, revenue growth.

But it’s worth reiterating that Spotify in May 2024 once again upped prices on its UK plans. The smallest of the raises hit Individual, the cost of which rose by 9% to $14.82/£11.99 per month, as bigger increases reached Duo and Family.

In other words, price bumps at the global streaming market leader seemingly outpaced subscription revenue growth in the UK during 2024. Of course, Spotify isn’t the only on-demand listening option, and Apple Music still charges $13.59/£10.99 per month for Individual.

But especially when considering the majors’ well-documented subscription-growth woes as well as the additional revenue impact of new customers, the points are interesting.

So are optimistic comments about the 2024 data from ERA CEO Kim Bayley, whose organization also tracks film, television, and video game sales.

“2024 was a banner year for music,” weighed in Bayley, “with streaming and vinyl taking the sector to all-time-high records in both value and volume. This is the stunning culmination of music’s comeback which has seen sales more than double since their low point in 2013. We can now say definitively – music is back.”