Denmark’s recorded music industry was up 9% in 2016, with total revenues tipping DKK 494 million ($70.8m) – but YouTube is under heavy fire from the market’s rightsholders.
According to new IFPI stats, revenues from YouTube made up 2.2% of total revenues in the territory last year with DKK 11m ($1.6m).
By contrast, revenues from other streaming services as Spotify, YouSee Musik and Apple Music generated DKK 381m ($54.6m) – 77.1% of the market’s overall revenue haul.
YouTube’s contribution also amounted to just 2.8% of total music streaming revenues.
According to IFPI Denmark Chairman Henrik Daldorph, Spotify, YouSee Music and Apple Music contributed an average of DKK 221 ($31.70) per user in 2016.
YouTube’s equivalent figure was just DKK 8 ($1.20).
In Denmark, the IFPI estimates that 59% of Danes between 16 and 70 who are streaming music do so on YouTube.
Calling for EU copyright reform to quash YouTube’s ‘safe harbour’ protections, Daldorph asked: “Where is the incentive for further development of services such as Spotify, YouSee Music and Apple Music, when they constantly have to compete with… YouTube, which utilizes outdated EU legislation to avoid paying the same for music as its competitors?
He added: “The Danish music market is among the most digital and advanced markets in the world. We should be proud of it. But we must not be naive.”
Denmark is one of the world’s most advanced nations in terms of streaming music consumption – and streaming revenues grew by a further 21.3% in 2016.
Streaming (including YouTube) now has a 79.4% total marketshare in Denmark after earning DKK 392m ($56.2m) in 2016.
Percentage-wise, that streaming growth was a smaller annual jump on that seen in 2015, when streaming revenues grew by 26.5% to to DKK 323m ($48m).
In turn, that was a significantly smaller jump on 2014, when income from streaming services grew 50.5% to DKK 256m ($37.9m).
Overall, 2016 was the fourth consecutive year of growth for the Danish record industry, according to IFPI stats – up from the DKK 453 million ($67m) recorded in 2015.
“Where is the incentive for further development of services such as Spotify, YouSee Music and Apple Music, when they constantly have to compete with… YouTube, which utilizes outdated EU legislation?”
- Download revenues were down 15% to DKK 46m ($6.6m) in 2016, holding 9.4% of the market.
- Revenues from CD sales were down to DKK 31m ($4.4m) – a 49.7% decline on 2015’s DKK 62m ($8.9m). CD’s revenues counted for 6.3% of the overall market.
- Vinyl was up by a massive 93.4% to DKK 23.9m ($3.4m) – increasing from 2015’s DKK 12.4m ($1.8m). The format had a marketshare of 4.8%.
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