Warner Music Group: Streaming music revenue now outweighs downloads

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Tucked away in its earnings release on Monday, major music-player Warner Music Group announced that revenue from streaming surpassed revenue from downloads for the first time. This signals a major turn in the industry, as an old school player is finally revealing it may be comfortable, and on board, with the shift in how customers consume music.

Warner’s CEO Stephen Cooper told analysts and investors during an earnings call on Monday that revenue from streaming (Spotify) jumped 33 percent in the second quarter, while downloads from services like Apple’s iTunes were down over the same period.

“This is an important milestone, and impressive considering the strong double-digit growth is coming on top of an increasingly significant base,” Cooper said. “The rate of this growth has made it abundantly clear to us that in years to come, streaming will be the way that most people enjoy music.” (Emphasis added)

The comments from Warner come amid rumors that Apple is planning a revamped music service after its acquisition of Beats, in which it will allow users to stream music rather than download it, like competitors Spotify and Rdio.

Tim Cook and Co. are expected to announce the new streaming service alongside a revamped iTunes Radio offering at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June.

Glad to see Warner Music is on board.

Source: Warner Music