What are the long-term effects of streaming music services on the music industry? Sweden is a good case study: Spotify launched there four years ago, and quickly became popular. The results are startling: according to music industry body the IFPI, Swedish music sales rose 30.1% in the first half of 2012 – unheard of in the modern music industry. Digital music revenues rose 60.5% as part of that, with streaming now accounting for 89% of all digital music revenues in Sweden. Spotify may have cannibalised iTunes download sales, but its growth is more than making up for any shortfall.
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