Music sales in Spain increase by 22% in first half of 2021 with physical sales recovering but not to pre-pandemic levels according to Promusicae, the Spanish record industry association.
Spaniards spent almost 169.2 million euros in consuming music, both in digital and physical formats that represents a 22.3% increase compared to the same period of 2020 (138.3 million euros) – a time marked by the start of the pandemic, the preventive closure of non-essential shops and the harshest lock-down. With the reopening of shops, the physical market has recovered going from 18 million euros during the first half 2020 to 25 million euros in the same period this year. However, this growth still has not recouped the pandemic losses where physical sales were 32.7 million euros in the first half of 2019.
Digital consumption continues to grow reaching 144 million euros, a rise of 19.7% compared to the year before (120.3 million euros). 82.3% of revenues come from audio streaming, both premium subscriptions and ad-supported tiers, (118.5 million), and 15.5% consumption is from video streaming (22.3 million euros). The remaining 2% comes from tracks, albums and video permanent downloads and mobile phone products (ring and key tones).
Vinyl continues its remarkable rise increasing 74% compared to the previous year. 43% of physical albums sold in shops are vinyl, providing to total sales revenues of 10.7 million euros. Vinyl is a format that continues to grow however it is still far from that in other surrounding countries, such as Italy, where vinyl sales have nearly tripled carrying physical sales to a level that is even higher than before the pandemic. CD sales accounted 13.4 million euros during the first half of 2021.
As with most other countries the lack of live music and the closure of the ‘night time economy’ continues to have a serious affect on the lives of musicians and the industries that are supported by these activities.
