Revenues from online music licensing has beaten revenues from radio for the first time in the United Kingdom. The Performing Rights Society (PRS), collector of music royalties in the country, found that online revenues of £51.7 million ($78.1 million) outweighed the £47 million ($71 million) earned from radio royalties last year.
The PRS figures, picked up by the Guardian, credit new agreements with online music services, such as Google Play and Microsoft’s Xbox Music service, with the increase. While impressive, the online revenue numbers are a combination of royalties from sales as well as streaming services. Radio royalties are not combined with those of physical audio products, CDs, music DVDs, and older media, which if added together for an “old vs new” media comparison, would total £127 million ($192 million).
Online royalty payments rose 32.2-percent compared to the £39.1 million ($59.2 million) earned in 2011, despite some criminal interference. Overall music revenues rose 1.7-percent to a record £641.8 million ($972.2 million).
