UK music retail revenues reached an all-time high in the twelve month period up to 23 Feb, topping £2223 million and out-performing the peak of the CD era in 2001.
In that year, total music retail revenues were £2221 million. Everything then slumped in the decade that followed with the traumatic shift to digital. However - thanks to the streaming boom - we're now £2 million up on the previous peak. Unless, of course, you adjust for inflation. Because, according to the Bank Of England, £2221 million in 2001 would be £3968 million today, which puts something of a damper on the celebrations. So probably don't think about that.
ERA - the UK trade group for music retailers and streaming services, which provided us with the all-time high stat - notes that, back when the CD era peaked in October 2001, Kylie Minogue topped the singles chart with ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’, while a greatest hits album from Steps was at number one in the albums chart. What crazy times those were. Imagine living in a time when new releases from Kylie Minogue and Steps ended up in the top ten. Well, I guess we are living in that time right now.
Except, people aren't spending £35 every time they access a new album today, which would be the inflation adjusted price of a CD, based on an average 2001 price of £17.99. Taking that average price, something like 123,457,476 CDs were bought in 2001. With 21.7 million households in the UK back in 2001, that’s about 5.7 CDs each.
At the inflation adjusted price, that would mean £199.50 per household to enjoy nearly six album's worth of new music, compared to £216 for a Spotify family plan allowing you to enjoy all new music. If every one of the UK’s now 28.4 million households was to spend £200 a year on music today, we’d be well beyond even the inflation-adjusted peak, with £5680 million in music revenue. But alas, we are some way off from achieving that just yet.
On physical music sales, ERA told CMU that the 2023 revenue numbers break down to 86% digital and 14% physical. This means that in the year to date £311.2 million of physical music was sold. With recent Luminate stats showing the sweet spot for vinyl price points falling in a £15-23 range (adjusted from US dollars), then this could represent something in the order of 13.5 million to 20 million physical music sales - assuming they were all around that price.
“This is a day many thought would never come”, says ERA chief Kim Bayley on the organisation’s new stats. “It is a red letter day for music and the artists and songwriters who soundtrack our lives. There’s still a long way to go, but these numbers show that thanks to the innovation and investment of streaming services, music is on the right track".
"No one should underestimate the seriousness of the plight the music industry faced in the decade following 2001", Bayley adds. "It was an existential crisis. Luckily a new generation of music loving tech entrepreneurs were able to see a way to a new model, based on subscriptions rather than sales. Today draws a line under 2001 and highlights the fact that music sales have more than doubled since 2013. That’s great, but after 20 years of inflation, it’s still not enough".