British artists making a 'global success story'
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E-mail CNTV, January 13, 2016
With streaming at a record high and vinyl making a comeback, sales figures for the UK music industry in 2015 rose for the first time since 2004. And it's not just a British success story, but a global one.
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British artists making a 'global success story' |
Streaming surged 82 percent, according to the British Phonographic Industry - or BPI - and accounted for 54 percent of all UK music sales.
Moreover, it was UK artists who drove the growth.
"Seven of the top-10 best-selling albums, in fact 15 of the top 20, were British home-grown acts. In fact these artists sold incredibly well all around the world as well. So, the Adele phenomenon we all know about, it has been written about extensively. But she has sold 2.5 million copies of her album '25' in just 6 weeks in the UK, 7 million in the U.S., and many more worldwide," said Gennaro Castaldo, Communications Director of BPI.
"But the great news is that the Ed Sheeran album 'Multiply' and also the Sam Smith album carried on selling throughout the year all around the world. So 'Multiply' has now sold more than 10 million copies as well, which is incredible, and Sam Smith and Ed have also done 2 million in the U.S. So it is not just a British success story; it is a global success story."
The retail value of the British music industry rose from 1.03 billion pounds in 2014 to 1.06 billion in 2015 - the first increase since 2004.
"The other big sort of characteristic of the year was that as fans we have got more ways now than ever before to enjoy our music. So streaming, I think we saw 27 billion streams of songs, that was an 82 percent increase on the previous year, but at the same time CDs - although they have been declining in sales over the last few years, that decline seems to be slowing down. And vinyl has it's own sort of fairytale story as well," Castaldo said.
U.K. vinyl sales were up for the eighth year in a row, and demand is now at a 21-year high. Enhanced sound quality is not the only reason for this comeback, according to shoppers browsing the shelves at HMV; nostalgia is also in play.
Increased music sales contributed to a buoyant U.K. entertainment sector as a whole in 2015. According to the Entertainment Retailers Association, games, video and music achieved combined revenue in excess of 6 billion pounds, finally shrugging off a decade of decline.
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