The latest national music body to reveal recorded music figures that include the initial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is Promusicae in Spain. Recorded revenues for the first half of 2020 grew by 4% year-on-year to €145.1m.
That’s thanks to a 17% increase in audio-streaming subscription revenues to €90.2m; a 55.7% spike in ad-supported audio streaming revenues to €16.1m; and 14.9% growth in revenues from video services to €16.3m. Streaming was thus 84.5% of the market in Spain, driving growth despite the pandemic.
Wait though, wasn’t it Promusicae that earlier this year predicted the Spanish recorded music industry would lose around €100m in projected revenue for 2020 as a result of Covid-19 – including “at least €50m” in lost streaming revenues? It was.
“The situation of economic recession and uncertainty will likely mean the public is less willing to pay for subscriptions, which for now we value at a drop of 16%, breaking the expected growth trend. That would generate a loss of income of another €30m this year,” Promusicae president Antonio Guisasola told Music Ally in April.
Seemingly not, then. Coming soon after similarly positive figures from Germany, where recorded music revenues grew by 4.8% in the first half of this year, it’s encouraging – for the industry. We do need to separate these figures from the impact on individual musicians, though, who’ve seen their live incomes disappear, with an anticipated hit to come for their public performance royalties too.
“The slight industry growth this semester cannot detract from the magnitude of the crisis we will be facing in the second half of the year, particularly intense for the live sector, with devastating effects for artists and for everyone involved in the creation of value,” as Guisasola put it yesterday.
Photo by Tabrez Syed on Unsplash
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