Spotify Royalties Now Exceed iTunes Payments In More Markets

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Music publisher Kobalt has released new stats which show that its writers’ European earnings from Spotify have overtaken those from iTunes. Royalties collected from Spotify’s streaming service in Q1 2014 were 13% higher than those from the iTunes download store in the EU.

These numbers says as much about the decline in digital music sales as they do about the rise in Spotify payouts. Together they speak volumes of where the industry is headed.

Trending

By comparison, Kobalt writers’ earnings over the two previous quarters showed European iTunes publishing income 32% higher than that for Spotify in Q3 2013, with the gap shrinking to 8% in Q4 2013. During this nine-month period from Q3 2013 to Q1 2014, Kobalt saw 5% growth of combined iTunes and Spotify publishing revenues in Europe.

Kobalt represents 6,000+ songwriters and artists, comprising half of this weeks Top 10 Billboard songs and albums and the top three albums in the Official UK Album Chart.

Global Streaming Income

On a global level, streaming revenues for Kobalt writers tripled over the past two years, accounting for 10% of overall global publishing income in Q2 2014. This includes subscription services, YouTube, Internet radio and royalties from live performances of compositions, radio performance and those from CDs and concert DVDs. The share of publishing income made up by streaming has grown steadily, trebling since Q4 2011, when it was 3%.