Trend for 2016: €1,58bn overall – Germany’s music market grows for the fourth year in a row

20 January 2017 - Press release

According to initial estimates, the German music market grew by 2.4 percent in 2016, marking the fourth year the industry has enjoyed growth rates in a row. These numbers were announced today by the Federal Association of the German Music Industry (BVMI). Across all formats, music sales* added up to €1.58bn, while audio streaming once again showed the highest growth rate (+73.1%) leading to a market share of 24.3 percent. Vinyl also gained considerably (+ 41%), thus further expanding its share from 3.2% to 4.5%. The largest turnover, however, is still generated by CDs: although CD sales declined by 9.6 percent compared to the previous year, they still have a market share of 53.7 percent. Downloads account for 12.3 percent of the market; they declined by 19.4 percent. In total, roughly 62 percent of sales were generated by physical products (CDs, vinyl, DVDs / Blu-rays) and 38 percent by digital music use (streaming and downloads).

BVMI Managing Director Florian Drücke: “The growth curve in 2016 might be slightly flatter than in the previous year, but it doesn’t take away from the current overall positive trend within the market. The fact of the matter is that the 2015 holiday shopping season was given a particular boost by a number of mega-selling albums, whereas 2016 had no equivalent. The streaming business was able to more than offset the decline in physical sales with a significant increase of 73 percent. Indeed, it was once more that unique mix of digital and analogue that fuelled and shaped the German market – and ultimately made for a convincing year in the music business”.

Dr. Mathias Giloth, Managing Director of GfK Entertainment, summarized: “The strong demand for music made in Germany continued unabated. German artists were at the top of the Official German Album Charts for 41 of 52 weeks, continuing a trend that has emerged in recent years. The charts included representatives of all genres, including hip hop, pop, rock and metal. In other words, there was something for every type of music fan out there. In the Official German Singles Charts, the share of pop and dance music as well as music by international artists was more pronounced thanks to their inclusion on widespread popular playlists. Streaming has finally reached German consumers”
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* Revenues valued at retail prices including VAT