Digital Market Outlook: digital music revenue in European countries 2021

In 2021, the United Kingdom (UK) was forecast to see the highest digital music revenue out of all European markets. The UK was projected to surpass 1.77 billion U.S. dollars in digital music revenue that year. In comparison, second-ranked Germany was set to reach 1.44 billion U.S. dollars, respectively.

Digital music revenue in the UK: an overview

The UK is one of the most profitable digital music markets worldwide, with annual revenues only topped by the United States, China, and Japan. While takings from live music events plummeted in 2020 due to the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, digital music revenue in the UK experienced double-digit growth rates that year. According to the latest projections, revenues will exceed 1.2 billion U.S. dollars by 2025, with music streaming accounting for the lion’s share of earnings.

UK streaming trends

Thanks to the likes of Spotify and YouTube, music streaming has become a popular pastime across the UK. As of 2020, the number of music streaming users in the UK reached a record 11.4 million, which translates to almost 60 percent of all digital music users in the region. While this figure is forecast to increase significantly in the years to come, music downloads are expected to plateau. This trend can be explained by the fact that streaming services allow users to listen to unlimited music content for free or a set monthly fee, which encourages many music fans to browse through the vast digital catalogs and discover more new artists and genres than ever before.