Warner Music Group has revealed that over a quarter of its digital revenue now comes from music streaming.
The music group's digital revenues are on the rise in general, now accounting for 35.2 per cent of its overall income, up from 29.5 per cent in the previous year.
Although the ringtone business is still on the decline (shocker), streaming income is more than making up for it, bringing in around $54 million (£35 million) to make up 8 per cent of the company's total revenue for the three months ending June 30 2012.
Warner classifies streaming as subscription services like Spotify and web radio outlets. It doesn't include cloud storage services like iCloud or Amazon Cloud Player.
Embarrassing
So it's score one for Spotify, Pandora, Rdio et al and well done to Warner for eating its own words.
Back in 2010, Warner chief executive Edgar Bronfman Jr proclaimed, "Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry and as far as Warner Music is concerned will not be licensed."
Ouch. But that wasn't all he had to say on the matter. He added, "The 'get all your music you want for free, and then maybe with a few bells and whistles we can move you to a premium price' strategy is not the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future."
Technology's a slippery beast, Bronfman. We've all been there.At least you didn't claim that the iPhone would never take off like Ballmer did.
From All Things D - thanks Jim!
