Data released by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) show that music downloads fell by 15 percent last year – three times faster than the decline in physical formats.
2014 brought a slowing in the decline of CD sales, while vinyl enjoyed its best year in almost two decades. Sales of the analogue format increased 65.1 percent to 1.3 million last year – the best year since 1996 according to the BPI.
However, figures suggested downloads from retailers such as iTunes were most affected by subscription-based streaming services such as Spotify and Deezer, which enjoyed a 65 percent rise last year.
Streaming now accounts for 12.6 percent of all music consumed in the UK, with more than 14.8 billion song streams throughout the year compared to 7.5 billion in 2013.
The most-streamed artist on Spotify was Ed Sheeran, with more than a billion streams, while One Direction hit the same milestone when they released latest album Four.
They join two other British acts, Coldplay and Calvin Harris, who have been streamed on the service more than a billion times.
Almost half of spending on music, video and computer games was to pay for digital downloads or streaming.
And, despite music sales falling, the entertainment industry as a whole grew 2.2 percent to £5.7bn, its second successive year of growth after five years of decline.
Read our comment from Clive Gardiner, one of the UK pioneers of digital music licensing, to learn more about the current streaming landscape.
2014 brought a slowing in the decline of CD sales, while vinyl enjoyed its best year in almost two decades. Sales of the analogue format increased 65.1 percent to 1.3 million last year – the best year since 1996 according to the BPI.
However, figures suggested downloads from retailers such as iTunes were most affected by subscription-based streaming services such as Spotify and Deezer, which enjoyed a 65 percent rise last year.
Streaming now accounts for 12.6 percent of all music consumed in the UK, with more than 14.8 billion song streams throughout the year compared to 7.5 billion in 2013.
The most-streamed artist on Spotify was Ed Sheeran, with more than a billion streams, while One Direction hit the same milestone when they released latest album Four.
They join two other British acts, Coldplay and Calvin Harris, who have been streamed on the service more than a billion times.
Almost half of spending on music, video and computer games was to pay for digital downloads or streaming.
And, despite music sales falling, the entertainment industry as a whole grew 2.2 percent to £5.7bn, its second successive year of growth after five years of decline.
Read our comment from Clive Gardiner, one of the UK pioneers of digital music licensing, to learn more about the current streaming landscape.
