The Verdict Is In - Streaming Is On The Up, But Online Sales Are Only Getting Worse

It's already a widely-known fact that digital streaming has and is continuing to thrive in terms of how people listen to music, but just how powerful it truly is is now coming to light as it has been revealed that even online CD and music downloads have taken a massive hit in favour of streaming. 

New studies from Ray Morgan Research have found that while streaming continues to soar in Australia, online CD and music sales have barely been able to keep up and have in fact been on the downward over the past few years. 

From March 2011-12 statistics showed that 6.1% of the country paid to download music and 2.1% purchased CDs online in any given four-week period. As of March 2016, these figures dropped significantly to 4.6% and 1.1% respectively. 

In contrast, the number of people who streamed music online in any given four-week period grew rapidly, from 10.3% in 2012 to 19.7% in 2016.

The study comes only months after APRA AMCOS recorded a massive year-on-year growth in royalty earnings as a result of digital streaming services.

Image via Ray Morgan Research

It's not all bad news for consumers who purchase music online, though. Research also found that Australians who purchase movie or TV show downloads are almost ten times as likely to buy music downloads.

"Ever since CDs knocked vinyl from its perch back in the 1990s, the music publishing industry has been evolving at a vertiginous rate," Industry Communications Director of Roy Morgan Research, Norman Morris, said.

"While record stores still exist (and vinyl is making a comeback), online shopping changed the face of music retail just as it did many other retail categories. But now, things are changing once more.

"The online space remains as crucial as ever to our music consumption, but the advent of streaming – whether free (eg. radio station apps) or by subscription (eg. Apple Music) – has impacted sales of downloads and CDs."

Morris says that the new research gives music and online publishers the opportunity to explore consumers' demographics, interests and online-shopping habits to refine their marketing campaigns.

"For example, Roy Morgan data reveals that Australians who go to see live rock/pop music in any given three-month period are more than twice as likely as the average Aussie to purchase downloadable music in an average four weeks," he said.

"What’s more, an above-average proportion of people who stream radio or music also buy music downloads."