January 29, 2021

Music streaming exploded in Germany in 2020. As reported by MBW back in August, audio streaming fuelled a recorded music revenue rise in the market of 4.8% year-on-year in the first six months of 2020, up to €783.7m ($856m) on a retail basis.

In the six months to end of June 2020, audio streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music generated approximately €514.9m ($562m) in Germany, which German Music Industry Association BVMI reported was up 20.7% year-on-year.

Germany’s recorded music revenues for the full year haven’t been published just yet, but on Friday (January 8), the total number of audio streams generated in the market last year were made public.

According to analysis released on Friday by GfK Entertainment and BVMI, over 139 billion music streams were generated in Germany last year.

That is almost a third more than in 2019 (107 billion), and three quarters more than in 2018, when 79.5bn streams were recorded in the market.

“AN INCREASE OF OVER 30 BILLION STREAMS COMPARED TO 2019 IS VERY REMARKABLE.”

DR. FLORIAN DRÜCKE, BVMI

Dr. Mathias Giloth , Managing Director of GfK Entertainment, added: “Streaming has long been part of everyday life for many people.

“In particular, music ‘Made in Germany’, which makes up over half of the top 100 annual streaming charts, is very popular – from genres as diverse as hip-hop, dance or pop.

“The days on which the most streamed throughout Germany were once again Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, which set new records with 605 million and 537 million hits, respectively. ”

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