“Music is back – thanks to streaming and the vinyl revival”: UK music sales reached record high in 2024UK music sales in 2024 reached a record high – and it’s mostly thanks to streaming and vinyl.
Altogether, music fans spent £2.38 billion on subscriptions to streaming services and physical music, particularly vinyl. Consequently, music revenue jumped by 7.4 per cent in 2024, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA). Sales of vinyl have also increased for the 17th year running.

READ MORE: Spotify allegedly using ‘ghost artists’ to minimise royalty costs

This is the highest music revenue has been since 2001, where sales reached £2.2 billion. It’s reflective of the music industry finally recovering from and adapting to the digital age, which cut down the value of the industry by billions.
“Music is back – thanks to streaming and the vinyl revival,” says Kim Bayley, the chief executive of ERA [via The Guardian]. “For decades it was new release activity which drove most revenues. Digital services and retailers have become the drivers of the market.”
Consumer spending on streaming subscriptions surpassed £2 billion for the first time last year, growing by 7.8%. Meanwhile, spending on CD, cassette and vinyl increased by 6.2 per cent to £330 million.
However, the figures are not adjusted for inflation, so total UK spending on music is still likely to be less than the level recorded in 2001.
In total, spend on streaming makes up about 85% of total UK music revenue, and 88% of the albums bought  However, ERA doesn’t believe the industry is on course for a digital-only future.
Spotify. Credit: Piotr Swat/Getty
“We continue to believe that digital and physical channels are complementary and vital for the health of the entertainment market overall,” Bayley says.
Despite this increase in revenue, the industry’s increased monetary value doesn’t seem to be translating to greater financial gains for artists. The news comes at a time where artists’ take home pay is squeezed by higher touring costs and streaming services attempting to pay out less and less in royalties.
For example, in August, it was reported that Spotify CEO and founder Daniel Ek earned more money from the platform in the past 12 months than any other artist ever has. The Swedish streaming giant also caused controversy by demonetising all tracks that have been streamed less than 1,000 times in the last 12 months and padding out listeners’ playlists using “ghost artists” to reduce its royalty costs, according to a new report.
“A record-breaking year for whom?” questions Tom Gray, the chair of the UK songwriters’ body the Ivors Academy. “Music creators are not seeing a fair share of this success.”
“We urgently need to rethink how streaming revenues are distributed. The whole industry can see the potential harms of AI on the horizon and yet we haven’t even got our own house in order.”
Naomi Pohl, the general secretary of the Musicians’ Union, is in agreement. “Sadly, professional musicians, artists and songwriters are not enjoying the boom represented by these figures.
“They are facing multiple problems including the high cost of living and touring, stagnating public arts funding, problems touring in the EU post-Brexit and, crucially, they are not receiving their fair share of streaming revenue.”
Indeed, the rise of AI-generated content on streaming platforms is having a damaging effect on artists’ ability to recoup their fair share of royalties. Producer and content creator Benn Jordan – who recently developed an algorithm that can detect if music has been made by AI or not – has told MusicTech of his plans to speak to TuneCore, DistroKid and other platforms which distribute music to streaming services “about changing their terms to disallow 100 per cent AI-generated content, and revoke royalties to people uploading Sudo/Udio creations while posing as human artists”. He added: “I don’t care if there’s AI music on Spotify. I just care it’s siphoning royalties away from musicians.”
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