Streaming and vinyl behind rise in music profits

The resurgence of vinyl sales and a massive rise in music streaming numbers in 2015 helped the retail value of the music business rise in Britain for the first time in more than 10 years.

Sales of vinyl rose 64% to 2.1 million and HMV says it sold a turntable every minute over the Christmas shopping period. Meanwhile, trade body the BPI says 26.8 billion songs were streamed last year, a rise of 82%.

The overall value of the music business, which includes physical sales and a percentage of streaming service subscriptions, rose from £1.03billion in 2014 to £1.06bn – the first increase since 2004.

BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor tells the BBC: “Yet again it’s UK artists who are driving this growth and inspiring the fans, whether it’s global icons such as Adele, Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and One Direction, or recent British breakthroughs and newcomers like Jess Glynne, Little Mix and James Bay.”

Pink Floyd’s The Endless River was among the best-selling vinyl titles of 2015 and was also a viral hit on Spotify.

Vinyl sales continue to rise

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.