British artists made more money on vinyl than on YouTube last year - CNET

Video streams don't pay the bills.

That's the takeaway from a report on UK musicians' revenue in 2015 by the British Phonographic Industry, the record label association that promotes British artists including Adele and Sam Smith.

The number of views on YouTube and other sites was explosive last year, rising 88 percent from 2014, to 26.9 billion plays, BPI said. Yet, these ad-supported platforms produced "only a meager" 0.4 percent rise in revenue for British musicians to 24.4 million pounds.

To drive home just how tiny that amount is, the trade group noted that sales of vinyl records actually brought UK labels more money, at 25.1 million pounds. Compared with that 26.9 billion online plays, only 2.1 million LPs sold last year.

Audio streams through services like Spotify reached 27 billion plays and offered a 69 percent rise in revenue to 146.1 million pounds.