BUSINESS
Streaming boosts music sales
December 9, 2016 - Warner Music Group has reported its highest full-year revenue in eight years -- up 9% to $3.2bn. Warner is the first global record company to identify streaming as its largest source of income.
Warner, the third-largest music company behind Vivendi’s Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment, said the cast recording of the wildly popular “Hamilton” Broadway musical was a major seller during the final quarter alongside tracks from Twenty One Pilots, Coldplay and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
After almost two decades of relentless decline caused by piracy and falling prices, the global music market achieved a key milestone in 2015 when digital/streaming became the primary revenue stream for recorded music, overtaking sales of physical formats for the first time.