Music sales in Belgium hit 49.59 million euros in the first half of 2015, a 5.8% increase, said the BEA, the association which groups together Belgian federations of producers and/or distributors of music, audiovisual material and video game content, on Thursday. The music industry strongly believes that streaming, due to its huge range and availability, has a positive effect on the CD market. Vinyl sales have also risen sharply.
"There is a certain complementarity between the various ways people consume music; streaming, for example, brings new music to the market, which in turn boosts the sale of CDs and LPs. It is great to see that music fans are still buying music in these formats, often to complete their digital music collection," explains Olivier Maeterlinck from the BEA.
For the first time in years, album sales in CD format have grown (+ 2.2% to 27.39 million euros), mainly due to a number of new outlets. Vinyl has recorded growth of over 47.1%, to hit 1.89 million euros, a market share which today represents 4% of all music sales.
Revenues from streaming (via payment of a fixed monthly subscription giving access to a catalogue more that 40 million songs strong) increased to 9.7 million euros (+30.6%). 20% of total music sales in Belgium come from streaming. Music downloads dropped to 9.62 million euros (-4.6%), a situation that can be witnessed on a global level, due to, in particular, the existence of illegal download and streaming platforms. The best-selling song in the first half of 2015 was "Cheerleader" by Jamaican singer Omi.
(Source: Belga)
