French music streaming grew by 39% in first half of 2018 according to SNEP (Syndicat National de l’Edition Phonographique) the French music record industry association. 27 bn tracks were streamed during the first six months of 2018, an increase of 39% over the same period in 2017 and this makes up 56% of the total music market. Growth in music streaming has been consistent over the past five years with a six-fold increase from 4.5 bn streams in the first half of 2014 to 27 bn in same period of 2018.
Two thirds of all audio streams in H1 came on paid services and the vast majority of this (148 out the top 200) was local French music with French rap music being the predominant genre. 16 of the 20 biggest albums in France in H1 2018 were French rap according to SNEP statistics. The sole non-French artist in the Top 20 was Ed Sheeran with his record-breaking album Divide at No.7.
The full report (in French) can be found here.
This trend to music streaming and the decline in physical music sales and digital downloads mirrors the recent music industry figures from Germany and Austria and is yet another sign that the physical CD’s days may be numbered.
