Physical sales suffer during pandemic in France declining by 36.8% largely offset by a 17.7% increase in streaming to give an overall rise of 0.4% in the first half of 2020 according to SNEP, the French recorded music industry association. The French music industry had a turnover of €279 million during the period and this slowdown in growth follows 3 consecutive years of growth. In common with other countries there has been a marked shift towards digital operations to counter the effects of lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The overall volume of monthly streaming listening has more than doubled in the past three years from 3.31 Bn streams in June 2017 to 7.06 Bn in June 2020. The proportion of physical and digital sales in the first half of 2020 were:
- Subscription streaming – 62%
- Ad-funded streaming – 7%
- Download – 4%
- Physical – 20%
- Video streaming – 7%
Alexandre Lasch, Director General of SNEP said, “These efforts, combined with the resilience of the growth in streaming (+ 17.7%), offset the marked decline in physical sales (-36.8%) due to the closure of most outlets. Given the close link and complementarity between recorded music and the stage, it is essential that concerts resume as soon as possible under satisfactory economic and health conditions.”
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Comparison of revenue in the first half of 2020 and 2019 (millions of Euros) |
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| Subscription streaming | 173 | 139 |
| Ad-funded streaming | 20 | 18 |
| Download | 10 | 14 |
| Physical | 56 | 88 |
| Video streaming | 20 | 19 |
The first half of the year usually represents 40% of the annual turnover of the industry and so SNEP is encouraged that the impact of the pandemic will not be as severe as originally feared and that sales for the full year will show a modest improvement.
The full report from SNEP (in French) can be downloaded here.
