The Dutch music industry has once again experienced significant revenue growth in 2024, mainly thanks to streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer. A total of 334 million euros was earned, an increase of 12% compared to the previous year.
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Streaming is by far the largest source of income and accounted for 83% of total revenue, which amounts to 278 million euros. An important factor in the growth is the increase in subscription prices. According to the NVPI (the Dutch trade association for the entertainment industry), this increase means that music is better valued, which in turn leads to more investments in this field.
However, this revenue growth does not automatically mean that artists earn more. “The more is streamed, the less an individual stream becomes worth,” Koen Beerkens of the NVPI explains to the NOS. Streaming services work with a revenue model in which the total income is divided among all artists. This ensures that the biggest artists, who generate the most streams, also receive the largest share of the income. Smaller artists, who are listened to less, hardly notice anything of this.
Vinyl remains a stable factor
In addition to streaming, vinyl remains a stable factor in the industry. Sales of this generated 37 million euros, almost the same as the previous year. However, CDs are losing more and more ground, with a decrease from 16.1 million to 13.8 million euros.
Image by Tom Majric from Pixabay
