Study Finds That Just 14 Percent of U.K. Citizens Pay for Music Streaming

A recent report by U.K. trade magazine Music Week revealed that while the popular music streaming service Spotify has reached 100 million monthly subscribers worldwide, only 14 percent of U.K. citizens pay for their music streaming services. The study expands on a similar 2015 analysis conducted by Nielsen’s music year-end report, which revealed that streaming in the U.S. has grown 83.1 percent in the past year.

Although streaming has accounted for nearly a quarter (23.7 percent) of music industry revenue, according to a BBC poll, physical music sales have been on an upswing as listeners tend to listen to albums on streaming services before buying a physical copy. While musicians, including Taylor Swift, Bjork, and Joanna Newsom, have recently begun to abstain from releasing their music on streaming services in protest of their questionable revenue rates and payment, the study suggests that streaming may actually be helping the current vinyl resurgence.

Selling nearly 12 million units in 2015, vinyl records saw their 10th year of steady growth. With streaming taking up 64 percent of the market according to the Music Week study, 42 percent of U.K. streamers continue to buy music in other formats. Considering that independent record stores account for 45 percent of vinyl sales in the US, streaming music may actually be helping the music industry thrive in ways never before considered.