Ahead of today’s evidence session for the British Government’s ongoing inquiry into the economics of streaming, trade body BPI has issued some figures to illustrate the way in which streaming is benefitting artists and resulting in a more "democratic" market. Three U.K. major label CEOs addressed the government today.

Around 1,800 artists achieved more than 10m streams in the U.K. alone in the past 12 months—72% more than the total of 1,048 artists who achieved the equivalent 10k album sales in the CD, LP and download market of 2007, BPI stats show. Streaming, says the BPI, has also made the market more democratic: the top 10 artists were dominant in streaming (5%) in 2020 than in CD sales in 2005 (13%).

Moreover, BPI global streaming data shows that the top 1,500 artists in the U.K. generate, on average, nine times as many streams outside the U.K. as they do at home, with 300 British artists now achieving 100m global streams or more annually. Around 400 artists, drawn from rock and pop’s mainstream but increasingly also from rap, hip hop, dance and indie, were streamed more than 50m times in the U.K.

…Read more