Some of the world’s most illustrious musicians are now bringing in more cash from Spotify streaming royalties than from iTunes downloads.
According to new figures from Kobalt Music Publishing, a group which represents 6,000 songwriters, its artists brought in 13 per cent more from Spotify during the first quarter of 2014. than they did from iTunes.
The Wall Street Journal report outlines a massive turnaround in a very short space of time. These same writers collected 32 per cent more cash from the iTunes Store, compared with Spotify, during the third quarter of 2013 and 8 per cent more during Q4 last year.
Kobalt represents top names like Dave Grohl, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder and Taylor Swift’s songwriting partner Max Martin and also has half of this week’s Billboard top ten on its books.
The news ties in with reports claiming iTunes download sales have dropped a whopping 13 per cent this year as more and more music fans turn to free and premium streaming platforms like Spotify.
Word has it that Apple plans to leverage the Beats Music platform next year and fold it into iTunes, giving the company a better shot at challenging the streaming platforms.
Spotify may still be a little disappointed that Swift decided to remove her entire back catalogue from the platform, but today’s news perhaps proves more than ever that streaming is the way forward.
While this is all well and good for some of the world’s larger artists, who’s tracks rack up millions upon millions of plays, those lesser-known bands who’re more reliant who rely on the cold hard cash from downloads may be hit harder by the fall in digital music sales.
Is streaming, as many observers feel, killing the music industry? Or is a business model that suits all artists needed to rectify the discrepancies? Share you’re vision for the future below.
Read more: iTunes Radio vs Spotify
Via TechCrunch