Spain Music Market Sees First Growth in 12 Years Thanks To Streaming

Streaming services have ushered in a new Wild West era for the music industry, but it has at least brought stability to the music market in Spain: A recently published study shows that Spain's market for recorded music has grown for the first time in 12 years, and a statement about the report claims, “This improvement can be entirely placed on to the momentum of streaming.”

Through the first six months of this year, the combined revenues of subscription and ad-supported services were nearly 40 percent higher than they were through the first half of 2014, which makes up an 11 percent net increase in revenues.

This revenue increase has also pushed digital sales over physical sales for the first time in Spanish history: During the first half of 2015, digital revenue account for about 54 percent of sales, while physical sales made up the other 46 percent.

This report follows similar findings about the German music market from a couple weeks ago, with music sales in Germany up 4.4 percent during the first half of from the first half of 2014.