[NewsPoster]

Music streaming services have become the largest source of revenue for Warner Music Group, the record label has confirmed. In its second quarter financial results ending March 31, streaming from services such as Apple Music have overtaken both physical sales and downloads from iTunes and other online stores to provide the most recorded music revenue in the quarter, marking the first time a major record label's revenue sources have changed in this way.

Digital revenues for the label increased by 21 percent year-on-year, with Recode noting streaming revenue increased by $72 million in the quarter, half stemming from outside the United States, and seemingly correlating with reports from other industry bodies. While digital helped total revenue for Warner increase ten percent compared to the same period last year, it wasn't helped by losses in both download and physical sales, reduced by $17 million and $6 million respectively.

"These impressive results were driven by outstanding music from our artists and songwriters, the expansion in our global footprint, our leadership in the industry's digital transformation, and excellent execution globally," said group CEO Stephen Cooper. "We are now the first major music company to report that streaming is the largest source of revenue in our recorded music business, surpassing our revenue from physical formats. And this new milestone comes only four quarters after our streaming revenue first topped our download revenue. "

Despite being the highest earner for the label, Warner is still wishing to continue the fight with streaming services to increase royalty payments, especially online venues such as YouTube. "It is imperative that we ensure a fairer correlation between the massive consumption of music via services built around user-uploaded content and the value generated for artists, songwriters, and rights holders," said Cooper in an earnings call. "We have made our views known through our submissions to the European Commission and the US Copyright Office."

[bobolicious]

"They're the brains that create the songs you love, but don't expect songwriters to be able to make a living by writing hits that get millions of plays on streaming services."

www.cbc.ca/1.3567947

I just say no, and still buy CD @ shows, or lossless bandcamp, supporting the content creators as directly as possible...

[Charles Martin]

Not a bad plan there, boblicious, and a good way to support the artists you already know you like. I see streaming as a good way to discover other artists, but yes: people should continue to buy CDs or iTunes/bandcamp/et al, if for no other reason than to directly support the artist and to have a "permanent backup" of the music.