UK Archives

UK entertainment sales reach record £11.1Bn in 2022

13/01/2023

UK entertainment sales reached a record £11.1Bn in 2022 – an all-time record for music, video and games sales, according to preliminary figures from digital entertainment and retail association ERA. The total was 6.9% up on 2021 and a dramatic 39% up on the last pre-pandemic year of 2019. The main driver of growth continues to be streaming and digital formats which reached £10.1 Bn up 8.4% on 2021. The fastest growing sector in 2022 […]

Smart speakers can combat loneliness

14/12/2022

Smart speakers can combat loneliness according to a recent report by Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator. Smart Speaker Research conducted in depth interviews with 100 smart speaker owners and 15 non-owners who tested one, to find out how people use and feel about them. By far the largest use was to listen to music via a streaming service like Spotify, Apple Music or Deezer closely followed by getting weather forecasts, using the speaker to act […]

UK competition watchdog publishes music streaming report

11/12/2022

UK competition watchdog publishes music streaming report and found that consumers have benefited from digitisation and competition between music streaming services. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that prices for consumers have fallen by more than 20% in real terms between 2009 and 2021 – with many services also offering music streaming for free with ads. The study found that there were around 39 million monthly listeners in the UK, streaming 138 Bn times […]

Insanity Radio

06/12/2022

Insanity Radio is a community radio station which is part of Royal Holloway, University of London. It broadcasts on 103.2 FM in the North Surrey, West London and South East Berkshire areas and has an internet radio presence with a webplayer, smart speaker support and a CD Quality lossless FLAC stream. Started in 1998 the station has won numerous awards and a full history can be found here. The station broadcasts a wide variety of […]

Spotify launches Audiobooks in US

27/11/2022

Update: 27/11/2022 – On Tuesday 22nd November, Spotify announced that audiobooks are also now available for purchase in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. Spotify launches Audiobooks in US where Spotify listeners will be able to purchase and listen to more than 300,000 audiobook titles. The new service comes with a brand-new user interface that’s geared specifically for listening to audiobooks and fits them seamlessly alongside the music and podcasts available in the apps. […]

Vinyl LPs outsell CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs in UK

18/09/2022

Vinyl LPs outsell CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray discs in UK according to analysis by ERA, the digital entertainment and retailers association. Year-to-date sales figures show that for the first-time vinyl LPs have overtaken all physical entertainment formats bar Nintendo Switch games. It means that UK consumers have spent more money on the 74 year old format than on Playstation 4 and 5 games combined, as well as more than on CDs, DVDs or Blu-ray discs. […]

UK Indie music has fourth consecutive year of growth

15/04/2022

UK Indie music has fourth consecutive year of growth is one of the insights from the BPI’s recently published annual yearbook All About the Music 2022. This and other observations are based on data from the Official Chart Company and shows that: Independent labels’ share of the UK music market grew to just under 27% in 2021, boosted by classic LP releases and 60 indie albums entering the Top 10 Official Albums Chart Independents’ share […]