Music streaming had a stellar year in Finland in 2014, with industry income from subscription and ad-supported services such as Spotify leaping up 38% to €16m.
However, the overall recorded music market in the territory was down; on a wholesale basis, annual industry income fell 14% to €35.9m from 2013’s haul of €41.8m.
Following a similar pattern to that seen in sister countries Norway and Sweden, the main culprit for this decline was a huge slide in CD sales, according to IFPI data.
Income from physical sales in Finland in 2014 fell by 33.8% to just €17.1m from 2013’s €25.9m.
CD album unit sales fell by 28.8% to 2.5m – a gentler decline than that of income, suggesting that average album prices are being reduced the in the country.
Vinyl unit sales increased 13.6% to 82,300.
There was much better news in the streaming world, helping digital sales accounted for more than half (51%) of Finland’s recorded music income for the first time.
Subscription streaming services enjoyed a 19.6% rise in value, bringing in €13.8m as opposed to 2013’s €11.5m.
But the headline growth was in ad-supported income, including YouTube: revenue from this category of services shot up by 1,354% to €2.3m from just €159,000 in 2013.
Download sales fell significantly, however, with income dropping 29.2% to €2.02m.
That now means that ad-supported streaming is bigger than the download market in Finland – and the subscription streaming market is seven times its size.
The IFPI‘s Antti Kotilainen said: “We have been slower than in the other Nordic countries [with streaming], so we expect the overall market to grow this year.
For consumers, the current situation is really good , as recorded music has never been so broad , versatile and available in many different ways.”
Warner was the biggest record company in the territory in the year by value, edging out Sony Music and Universal Music.
According to IFPI stats, Finland was the world’s 21st biggest recorded music territory in 2013.
[Pictured: Coldplay, whose Sky Full Of Stars was one of a handful of English-language tracks to hit No.1 in Finland last year]Music Business Worldwide
