Music industry revenues fell in 2015 despite record sales
The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) has stated that the massive increase in video streaming has not mirrored an increase in revenue for artists, pointing out that British artists are making more from vinyl sales than video streams. According to the BPI, vinyl sales soared in 2015 with more than two million LP’s sold in the UK, the largest number for 21 years, while video streaming saw a gigantic rise of 88%. However, overall industry revenues actually fell 0.9% due to the “value grab” approach of YouTube and streaming sites according to the BPI, which has called on the UK government and the EU to address the situation. BPI and Brit Awards CEO, Geoff Taylor said the fact that revenues fell in a record year for British music clearly shows something is fundamentally broken in the music market.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), which represents recording artists in the United Kingdom, targeted YouTube and other video streaming services on Friday. The organization claims that the massive increase in video streaming has not mirrored an increase in revenue for artists. According to BPI, British artists are, in fact, making more money from vinyl sales than they are from video streams.

Their findings, which were published in the Music Market 2016 yearbook, show that Vinyl sales shot up to more than 2 million LPs sold in the UK in 2015, the highest number in the last 21 years. While video streaming has seen a momentous rise of 88 per cent, the record labels’ association says that the surge in popularity of British music has only led to a tiny growth in “revenue from pure ad-funded platforms”; of 4 per cent.

The £24.4 million earned from ad-supported video streaming is lower than the £25.1 million earned by record labels from vinyl sales. And the total industry revenue has dropped 0.9 per cent to £688 million in 2015. As such, the BPI has called YouTube and streaming sites alike a “value grab”; and has urged the government and the EU to address the issue at hand.

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“It is hugely encouraging that demand for British music is so strong at home and abroad,”; BPI and Brit Awards Chief Executive Geoff Taylor said. “Yet the fact that sales revenues dipped in a record year for British music shows clearly that something is fundamentally broken in the music market, so that artists and the labels that invest in them no longer benefit fairly from growing demand.”;

“Instead, dominant tech platforms like YouTube are able to abuse liability protections as royalty havens, dictating terms so they can grab the value from music for themselves, at the expense of artists. The long-term consequences of this will be serious, reducing investment in new music, making it difficult for most artists to earn a living, and undermining the growth of more innovative services like Spotify and Apple Music that pay more fairly for the music they use.”;

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In response, a spokesperson for YouTube said, “For years, the music industry lost millions of dollars as piracy rates soared. Thanks to our rights management system, Content ID, rights holders have complete control of their music on YouTube and can easily decide whether to have content taken down, or profit from it. Today, revenue from Content ID represents 50 per cent of what we pay out annually. In fact, ad-supported music streaming enables revenue from an audience that has never before paid for music. As more advertising money comes online, this will grow to match consumption. Comparisons to other audio-only, subscription music services are apples to oranges.”

UK artists took a record 17.1 per cent share of the global market with Adele’s “25”; leading as the global bestseller, and five of the global top 10 including, Ed Sheeran, One Direction, Sam Smith and Coldplay.