UK record labels' income reached £1.1 billion in 2019 - the highest in 14 years

UK record labels' trade income reached £1.1 billion in 2019 - the highest level of income in 14 years. 

Music trade body The BPI reports that income by UK record labels in 2019 was £1,069.8 million in 2019, up 7.3% from 2018. It's the fourth consecutive year of growth and the highest since 2006, when the annual income of labels stood at £1,166.2 million.

Income from streaming is fuelling the growth, which leapt 21.8% year-on-year to stand at £628.9 million in 2019. 90.4% of that figure is from subscriptions to services such as Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music Unlimited. Ad-supported (i.e free) streaming accounts for just 3.9% of the streaming total. 

MORE: The UK's Official Top 40 biggest songs of 2019

As well as streaming, record label income is made up of profits generated through sales from physical formats, downloads, public performance rights and music licensed for use in film, TV, games and advertising (broadly called 'sync').

The figure of £1.07 billion is the highest amount since 2006, when the combined total was £1.17 billion. pic.twitter.com/ZXAWUGbvMc

— bpi music (@bpi_music) March 17, 2020

Physical music made up a fifth (£215.8 million) of last year's income, including sales of vinyl, which were up 16.1% year-on-year and now accounts for over 6% of total music industry revenues. Take a look at the UK's best-selling vinyl albums of last year.

While the continued growth is good news for the music industry, there are still concerns about illegal music download and stream ripping websites, which is costing the industry an estimated £120 million per year. 

Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive BPI & BRIT Awards, said: "Watching British artists such as Stormzy, Celeste, Dave and Harry Styles at The BRIT Awards was a reminder of the fantastic contribution music makes to our national life. The music industry’s success is powered by record labels’ up-front investment and shouldering of risk, so it is important to the sustainable health of the music ecosystem that label revenues grew on last year’s results.

“But there is no room to rest on our laurels. British music faces intense competition at home and abroad, is undervalued by some tech platforms and is undermined by widespread illegal sites. In fact, total revenues remain more than a fifth below the post-Millennium peak recorded in 2001. It is time for a new partnership with Government to unleash the full potential of our music industry to benefit our culture and our economy."

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