Value of the music industry in Australia 2015-2020

According to Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), the 2020 revenue of the Australian music industry totaled approximately 542 million Australian dollars. This reflected a slight decline from just over 555 million in the previous year.

From physical to digital

Over the past twenty years, digitalization has drastically changed virtually every aspect of the music industry, from the way how music is produced, to the way how it is enjoyed. From the consumers’ perspective, the physical-digital shift manifested itself most evidently in how they transitioned from purchasing CDs and records in brick-and-mortar stores to downloading content from online platforms and streaming music in real time. Aside from subscription-based services, many users also opted for free advertisement-based services to gain access to such content. In Australian recorded music market, digital music will likely continue to overshadow physical formats.

The show must go on

2020 marked a challenging year for the music industry, especially the live music market, as concerts were constantly postponed and cancelled due to COVID-19 lockdown and social distancing policies. However, Australian live music market is anticipated to increase tenfold over the next five years, ultimately reaching its pre-COVID market size of well over 800 million Australian dollars. On the other hand, the total revenue of the recorded music market witnessed a year-on-year increase in 2020, mostly contributable to the digital music segment. Meanwhile, vinyl sales surged amid the pandemic with almost 1.15 billion units sold, the highest record in Australia since the resurgence of vinyl starting late 2000s.