German Music Sales Rise

It’s enough to cement the country’s place as the biggest market in Europe, a position it took over from the UK in 2011. Figures from the Federal Association of the Music Industry (BVMI) and market research company GfK Entertainment show the German market is now worth about $1.7 billion.

The reason for the success, or avoiding the pitfalls that have trapped the Nordic market, is that the German music buyer still buys physical product.

Physical sales in Norway and Sweden are down by about 40 percent, while Germany has suffered a 1 percent in fall in CD and vinyl sales. “We had a strong holiday shopping season and we can see the still almost unrestrained passion of German music fans for physical product, as well as the simultaneous increase of digital exploitation,” BVMI managing director Dr. Florian Drücke said in a statement. Physical formats are still responsible for 75 percent of Germany’s recorded music sales.