ARIA: Streaming & Vinyl Sales Drive Fifth Year Of Growth In Music In Australia

According to new data from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), streaming numbers and vinyl sales have driven phenomenal growth in the Australian music industry for the fifth consecutive year.

In 2023, subscription-based streaming services increased their growth in total music sales by 13.9% to $467.6 million, or 69% of the industry. The ad-supported streaming model jumped 15.3% in revenue, rising to $68.3 million. Digital sales also leapt up by 12.1% to $616.1 million, representing an incredible 91% of all music sales.

The vinyl resurgence continued throughout 2023, accounting for a 14.1% rise to $42.1 million. With that increase, vinyl represented a whopping 70% of physical music sales in monetary value and 42% in volume. Physical music sales have increased by 2.9%, a figure that would’ve been unlikely without vinyl.

However, sales of digital downloads, CDs, and music DVDs decreased by 14.7%, 19.1%, and 33%, respectively, last year.

You can check out an infographic of the data below.

“The data paints a clear picture: music is a big business in Australia,” ARIA Chief Executive Officer Annabelle Herd commented in a statement. “Five years of growth for any media business is exceptional in this market, but we need to be careful to draw the distinction between growth of Australians consuming music overall, and the growth of Australians consuming new and local music.”

Herd continued to note that it’s important to remember that Australian music still needs more support. “While Australia remains the 10th largest music market in the world – and Aussies clearly love music – it remains harder than ever for our local artists to reach these audiences,” she said. “The end of year ARIA Charts paint a clear picture of this, with only four Australian albums in the top 100 for 2023 and three singles, none of which were released last year.”

Earlier this month, The Music reported on the most-collected vinyl release of all time following the publication of Discogs data. You can find out what that album is here.

ARIA Infographic. Source: ARIA