Digital music in the United Kingdom - statistics & facts
Whereas our music consumption has always been subdued to change over the decades, it’s the digital world that has shaped our listening habits the most over the last twenty years. This is also true for the third-biggest music market worldwide – the United Kingdom. While the overall music market in the United Kingdom has been growing steadily over the years, this is even more true for the digital music market. The United Kingdom is estimated to be the biggest digital music market in Europe with revenues surpassing one billion U.S. dollars. Music streaming makes up most of the music consumption in the digital segment and forecasts predict that the number of music streamers will continue to grow in the upcoming years.
Digital music industry in the United Kingdom is thriving, solely owing to the popularity of streaming. While consumers are slowly forgetting about downloads, the key players in the streaming segment are looking forward to years of subscriber growth.
Streaming – the driving force of the industry
Streaming has grown into the main revenue source of the music industry in the United Kingdom. This is reflected in the development of income from sales of music subscription which has steadily increased tenfold over the past decade, having reached over 800 million British pounds as of 2023. Streaming has also gained the upper hand in the digital music segment – between downloads and streams, the latter dominates. Streaming is expected to see healthy growth of roughly 24 percent by the end of 2029, while downloads will stay below one percent increase in the same period. Especially younger generations prefer to stream rather than listen to music through physical copies or downloads. The future generations of music consumers are highly reliant on streaming, and the industry needs to follow.UK streaming dominated by few services
There are more than 26 million people streaming music in the United Kingdom. Where do they access their favorite music, then? More than two-thirds of British listeners pay for some kind of audio subscription . These consumers turn to the usual suspects for their paid music delivery. The top three choices for music streaming services in the country are unsurprisingly Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Music. When it comes to more general, music indulgence, BBC Sounds and YouTube also come into play, as more than 90 percent of the online community uses these services for their monthly audio listening. Given that the streaming market continues on its growth path, by the end of 2027 these five providers will be competing for the ear of 29 million UK listeners, so they have their work cut out for them.Digital music industry in the United Kingdom is thriving, solely owing to the popularity of streaming. While consumers are slowly forgetting about downloads, the key players in the streaming segment are looking forward to years of subscriber growth.
