Streaming growth helps digital music revenues surpass physical sales

Subscription value from streaming services up 66% in a year, and industrywide revenues grow for first time since 1995

Digital music revenues have surpassed the takings from traditional music formats for the first time, according to an industry report.

Worldwide, digital revenues – from streaming subscriptions, downloads, and advertising revenue on sites such as YouTube – accounted for 45% of the total in 2015, compared with 39% for physical formats such as CDs and vinyl records.