Case Study/ Weekly story

Global music sales fell in 2013 despite strong growth for streaming services

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/mar/18/music-sales-ifpi-2013-spotify-streaming

The Global recorded music revenues fell by 3.9% to $15bn in 2013, but the income from subscription streaming services like Spotify and Deezer are still rising sharply. Figures were published today by the music industry body the IFPI in its annual digital music report stating a bump back in labels after a 0.3% rise in global revenue in 2012. The music report suggested that in 2012 the music industry raised the global revenue by 0.3% since 1999. The IFPI blames Japan for 2013's global drop and decline. The sales in the CDs fell by 11.7% to $7.73b, but the digital revenue rose by 4.3% to $5.87b. Then following on in the year sales of downloads fell by 2.1% to $3.93bn while subscription streaming income rose 51% to $1.11bn. Things like Spotify and Deezer will not make up for the decline in CDs. The report also states that the growth in the digital media in 2013 was in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. The report says that “It is now clear that music streaming and subscription is a mainstream model for our business,” The company states that in 2011 the company had eight million paying subscribers and today they have 28 million. This is helping them grow digital revenue for record companies and artists. 

Key facts:
-Music revenues fell by 3.9% to $16bn in 2013
-Spotify and Deezer are becoming very successful
-CD sales dropped by 11.7% to $7.73bn
-From 8 million subscribers rised to 28 million

My view:
I personally think that this was going to happen soon, as the digital world is growing very rapidly.People could access anything online in today's generation and that's how the audience like consuming things as it is more intractive. I think there will be soon a decline in CDs as everyone will be getting their music from sources like Spotify and Deezer. I think Spotify has made a big difference in the way the music industry use to operate. I personally think it has made things more tough for them as they are not able to generate good amounts of revenue for themselves. People would just pay for subscription no days and get their music rather than going out to the shops to purchase CDs which they might listen to only a few times. The audience know that they will benefit with the online content as they can listen to whatever they like.