2020 has been a bad year for music in many ways, but for streaming music the lockdown situation has nevertheless been an advantage as its consumption has increased.
According to data from the BPI association (British Phonographic Industry) which represents the UK record industry, almost 1800 artists have surpassed the 10 million streams in the UK by 2020, which would be equivalent to the sale of 10,000 albums in physic (silver record). This indicates a growth of 72% compared to the sales of CDs, LPs and downloads produced in 2007, before the crisis of 2008.
According to this same report, streaming would have democratized the market as the top 10 artists of 2020 have dominated only the 5% of the streaming market while in 2005, the top 10 performers on the music scene accounted for 13% of physical sales in the UK.
However, this is due to the ease with which music can be released today compared to 2005 and to the reduction of the production and distribution costs. It has less to do with the streaming business model itself.
It also appears from this report that in the streaming era, artists are receiving more percentage revenue than they received in the CD era. Previously, the artist used to receive 13-20% of the income generated by its work while now those percentages can reach a 30%.
This, however, does not imply that the artist is making more money than before.
