Music sales in Australia from 2005 to 2020, by platform

According to Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), digital music sales in Australia totaled just over 480 million Australian dollars in 2020. Meanwhile, physical music sales amounted to only approximately 61.78 million Australian dollars. This reflected a drastic change in the recorded music industry compared to 2005, which realized more than 520 million Australian dollars in physical music sales and merely eight million dollars in digital sales.

From physical to digital

Over the past decade, digitally distributed music has gradually dominated the recorded music market. In Australia, the emergence of subscription-based streaming and downloading services, such as the market giants Spotify and Apple Music, has taken the industry by storm. Digital music services not only allow listeners to select any content at their convenience, but they also allow users access to a tremendous variety of content. Furthermore, such platforms are easily accessible from a multitude of devices.

The future of physical records

Amid the digital age, CD sales in Australia have been in constant decline, now dropping to less than one-tenth of the sales value in the late 2000s. On the contrary, vinyl records sales have been experiencing an upturn and surged to almost 30 million Australian dollars despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the steadily rising of popularity of vinyl records during the past decade, the vinyl revival seems to be more than a booming fad. Whether it is for the unmatched sound quality, the sentiment, or the sheer joy of collecting, vinyl records are likely here to stay as the preferred physical music format among many music lovers.