Business News: Music business in Germany soon to be four fifths digital

Sunday March 6, 2022

Berlin. The sales of the music industry in Germany continued to grow in 2021, as announced by the Federal Association of the Music Industry (BVMI) in Berlin. Record sales and revenues from the streaming business generated a total of 1.96 billion euros [1] , compared to 2020 that is an increase of 10 percent. By far the largest part was generated digitally, 76.4 percent of the income comes from online music use. The industry is now heading towards a digital share of almost four-fifths in Germany too, and this has long been reality, particularly in the Scandinavian countries.

Audio streaming, which has been growing dynamically for years, again increased significantly with an increase of 18.6 percent. Although the growth curve was somewhat flatter than in the previous year (2020: +24.6%), this form of music use from the cloud was able to increase its share of the total market to 68.3 percent compared to the previous year (2020: 63.4%). . The CD remains in second place with a sales share of 16.3 percent, which means a decline of 16.7 percent compared to the previous year. Vinyl is again in third place in the format ranking. Thanks to sales growth of 20.1 percent, the vinyl record has a respectable 6 percent share of the total market in the age of audio streaming. Not least because of this, the contribution of the physical market to sales, despite a minus of 9.1 percent, remains at 23. 6 percent still quite stable. Downloads are still 3 percent of the revenue.

dr Florian Drücke, CEO of the BVMI: "10 percent growth attests to the industry, the digital pioneer, who drove towards the valley for so many years and at times at breakneck speed, that he recognized the digital disruption as an opportunity and drew the right strategic conclusions. This is shown in particular by the successful integration of music streaming into the format portfolio. The market is now growing significantly for the third year in a row; with a total turnover of 1.96 billion euros, the revenues in 2021 are again approaching the level of 2002. Nevertheless, this very positive news should not distract from the fact that the hardship in the live sector is still immense. Against this background, we urgently hope that the artists and our industry colleagues there will be able to plan better,

Frank Briegmann, Chairman & CEO of Universal Music Central Europe and Deutsche Grammophon: "The strong and stable growth once again underlines the uninterrupted success of our content. Above all, however, the figures demonstrate the immense potential that still lies ahead of us. Because despite the continuing large growth in the streaming segment, territories such as Scandinavia, the UK or the USA still have more than twice the market penetration in terms of paying premium subscribers. If we inspire new target groups for streaming at the same time, expand the distribution channels and also maintain the relative strength in physical formats through product innovations and high-quality fan editions, then we look forward to a further growing German music market together with our artists and partners .

Patrick Mushatsi-Kareba, CEO Sony Music GSA: "Especially against the background of the burdens caused by the pandemic, this balance sheet for 2021 is very good news for all artists: inside and for the entire music industry. Together we want to continue investing in emerging and established artists, offering them the best possible service and partnership they need to master the challenges of the streaming age. At the same time, we hope for a prosperous return to the live business, both for our artists and for our numerous partners from the live industry.”

Doreen Schimk & Fabian Drebes, Co-Presidents Warner Music Central Europe: "The crisis has made it clear how important and beneficial music is for all of us. However, we have gradually expanded our market share before that and have grown in all areas, even against the market trend in the physical area last year. The outstanding performances of our artists such as Ed Sheeran (most streamed international artist in Germany), Katja Krasavice (most number 1 hits of the year) and Udo Lindenberg are highlight building blocks of our growth course. In 2021 we achieved the best financial year in history with our artists, partners and our team. We are therefore optimistic and curious about further market developments.”

Konrad von Löhneysen, Managing Director of the Embassy of Music and spokesman for the extraordinary members of the BVMI board: "For the first time in decades, double-digit growth in the overall market at the end of the year is a truly positive result in an emotionally extremely difficult time. Because of the currently strong economic position of our part of the industry, we must continue to work on taking all those involved in the "Recorded Music" area with us, ie opportunities, platforms etc. for national (upcoming) artists with our partners in the media and in the to create trade and also to have an open dialogue about remuneration in streaming; also to clear up the sometimes dangerous half-knowledge, especially in the media.”

[1] Sales valued at retail prices including VAT

Text: Bundesverband Musikindustrie eV

Source: www.magdeburger-news.de/?c=20220303113441

 

That's while I bought a CD today

Life Starts Now from Three Days Grace for €5.99 while the "digital Version" would cost €11.89

 

let's hope sun spots won't be a factor.

 

I'm actually surprised that CDs are still a thing, but @Polomo's post opened my eyes. It is true that digital downloads of a whole album will cost you more, unless you have subscription, then it might cost you less. However, not many members of the younger generation buy whole albums. They buy a couple of songs they like and that''s it. Which I do find somewhat sad. I think listening to an album, if it's made properly [the flow of the songs, sometimes mixing one into another] can be a really great experience.

Personally, I haven't bought a CD since about 2001 and I think it's a dead audio format, but I still often like to listen to whole albums, digital or CDs. I wonder is it really just an old fart's thing now? Come on youngsters, chime in.

Very true about live performances. Music sucks without them. I find many live performances from my favourite bands better sounding or at least a better experience than the studio recording.

 

Many analog touchable CD's and vinyl records are already digitized.
They are stored in the cloud, that is a funny unrealistic fantasy term, of course the data is on a server which is hardware . The new sanctuary since the pyramids of Giza are now the servers and the power supply. The power suppliers and the servers are prayed to 3 times a day, please don't fail, is the new prayer. Should the power fail or the server not work, the dream is over. If the arm-thick fiber-optic cable is bitten by a shark or another country wages a cyber war, it will hopefully be repaired.

 

The music business can be a good option for aspiring entrepreneurs who consider themselves creative. When writing a business plan, keep in mind that in today's world, the one who keeps afloat is the one who knows how to dump. Small home studios enjoy success, while organizations providing high-quality services are forced to stay out of business. Most modern performers refuse to record their CDs, putting their compositions on the Internet. The guys at https://barkersprocurement.com/services/cost-transformation/ advised me to do the same. You shouldn't spend too much money on studios if you don't sing.

 

Last edited: May 17, 2022

Its the same with ebooks. Why would i buy an ebook for more money? When i can get the actual physical copy for half of the price and i can do things with it like put notes into it, mark things and i can read it everywhere.

Its the same with digital music, DRMed or if you have it on deezer/spotify, it will just be gone some day. While when you have a physical copy, its yours forever until the CD breaks.

Also having it in physical copy, makes you appreciate it more, since you can touch it?! I dont know i value music more if i have it as physical copy (i dont do this anymore) or if its on my HDD and i can listen to it, whenever i want to - without geo restrictions ...

The problem with the newer generation is that you never will knew the feeling of getting a CD from the market and waiting for you to getting home to finally play it? This builds a relationship/memories with the music, which is on this CD.
Today, they will listen to whatever shit is in specific playlists - people got lazy and producers have used this too to be features in such playlists ...

Or maybe well we just have a different relationship with music overall as the normal dingus hipster with his spotify account ...?!

Sorry for rant, i know its the zeitgeist ...

@BEAT16 thanks for translating! Its so much better to read it in english. Appreciate the variety of topics you bring to the forum.

No i feel kinda the same ...
I have bought the last CD in 2005? (After that time i had fast internet, so i downloaded compiled cds by other people and made/collected whole discographies).

The problem with cds for me on the other hand was always where to store them. At around 2008 i had like 200 self burned CDs and around 20 self bought ones.
Won my last CD last year on twitch :D
I started doing around 2003 MP3 CDs - 700MB (with working mp3 player) of 192 quality mp3s, the usual quality around that time.
then i bought around 2006 a 1GB mp3 player, 16GB player in 2009, then used my phone with 8GB mini sd storage.
Its just easier to download music and then convert it to smaller sizes and have as much music without, without relying on internet connection and aviablability.
Right now i have 32GB mini sd (which is full) in my phone (additional 10GB inside the phone) - thats backup if my old mp3 player died with 24GB storage.

What i want to say is, that i dont have a regular way to convert, play CDs, since i dont have an optical drive anymore, anywhere. (thats the case for almost12 years now).

@SineWave The music industry wanted not to give up the format, bcs they had factory plants, which were expensive, so they kept going with maybe producing for a market, which no longer was there. The revenue of CDs was maybe higher they thought? (despite material costs?) Because they tried to avoind streaming, but selling people cds, which make more money than streaming?
Well but they maybe had to give in finally?

I agree about concerts, despite i was never being at one in my life. But this breaths life into music.

About getting CDs, i listen to lots of non mainstream music, you either get music from bandcamp or you well dont have. Deezer and Spotify makes it very easy on the other hand to discover music - exlusing these mainstream playlists here for example, just by exploring music, via which sounds similar.

Its interesting how this all developed.

 

I am seeing some Undergroung Artists selling Vinyl, CD or Casettes like in the good old Days.

Mofunkrecords releases their Stuff on all three Mediums and Digital as Well.

https://mofunkrecords.bandcamp.com/

For Germany there is Hutmacher Entertainment which releases on Casette, CD and Digital

https://hutmacherent.de/

 

I bought vinyl records in the '70s and '80s; gradually transitioned to cassettes and CDs in the '80s and '90s; cassettes and CDs in the '90s and '00s; thereafter it was CDs to either play or rip to digital. I now possess maybe only 20 CDs, 30 cassettes, and 10 LPs – all ripped to FLAC or MP3. I don't have an extra room for a record/CD collection; I'm not into owning "stuff." I can speak from experience how cool it is to have the accompanying printed fetish-items to hold and behold, but since listening to music isn't reliant upon physical playback media, I feel freed from the burden of owning "stuff" in order to enjoy listening to music. So much music; so little space; too little time to listen to it all.