Spain has seen another boost in its fight against piracy as music sales look set to rise for the third year in a row, up 4% year-on-year during the first half of 2016.
The country has been hit badly by copyright infringement over the last decade and a half, with annual recorded music revenues dropping by a shocking 80.2% between 2001 and 2013, down from €626.1m to €123.7m.
However, streaming has started to slowly reverse that decline in recent years.
In 2014, Spain’s music market rose 11%, recording a total spend across physical, download and streaming of €149.9 million.
In 2015, Spanish music fans spent €160.2 million ($180.4m) across physical, download and streaming in 2015 – up 7% on 2014’s total.
Streaming brought in €64.5 million of that figure, with paid subscriptions jumping up by more than 35% on 2014’s figure of €47.25m.
Now, according to new stats from local sales monitor ProMusicae, Spain’s recording industry reached global sales of €73.5m during the first half of 2016 – 4.1% more than the €70.6m accounted during same period in 2015.
Again, the growth was thanks to streaming, with digital (including ad-supported and subscription streaming, downloads and mobile tones) now accounting for 54% of the market, while physical takes 46%.
Digital has risen by 22.5% – from €38 to €46.7m. The physical share has shrunk 17.6%, or €32.5m to €26.8m.
That means digital sales count for almost two thirds of revenue earned from recorded music at 63.5%.
Of the €46.7m digital figure, streaming earned the lion’s share, accounting for €40.1m (55%).
Track or album downloads made up the majority of the rest, with mobile products earning just €1m.
[Pictured: Antonio José, whose Senti2 topped the Spanish album charts for four weeks this summer]
Music Business Worldwide
