German music market grows significantly
The German music market grew significantly in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period last year, with sales up 4.4%.
Revenue from physical and digital music sales amounted to around 686 million euros at the end of the first half of the year. The growth came primarily from streaming (music streaming services such as Spotify, Deezer, Napster and now also Apple Music), which shot up by 87.4 percent and now accounts for 12.8 percent of all sales (H1 2014: 7.7 percent).
The download market in Germany, which has generally come under pressure, also increased by 3.2 percent compared to the previous half year, driven primarily by growth in download albums, according to a press release from the association. This means that the digital business currently accounts for around a third of sales, compared to 26.5% in the first half of 2014.
The vinyl market also continued to develop dynamically: with an increase of almost 33%, it accounted for 3.1% of the overall market. The 3.3% decline in the CD business, on the other hand, corresponds to the decline in the physical market as a whole, but remains moderate in a global comparison.
