Digital sales are half of total UK music industry income

Bastille's debut album Bad Blood helped boost digital album sales

Digital revenues now account for 50% of the total UK record industry income, according to the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

Digital album sales and a surge in streaming boosted total digital revenue in 2013 to £365m - up from £326m (a 45.5% share) in 2012.

Streaming revenue increased by 41%, bringing total UK revenue to £730.4m - the first growth since 2009.

The 1.9% increase comes despite a fall in physical album and single sales.

Income from subscription streaming music services such as Spotify and Deezer was the fastest growing sector, generating £54.7m.

Including free to consumer ad-supported services and Cloud-related services including Google, Apple and Amazon's locker services, the total streaming revenue stood at £76.7m.

The BPI said some 7.4bn songs were streamed in 2013, double the levels of 2012.

Digital album sales also grew 19.5% to £160.5m, helped by the success of new British acts like Bastille - who scored the biggest selling digital album of the year with their debut Bad Blood - and exclusively digital releases such as Beyonce's latest self-titled record.

Total revenue from sales of physical CD albums and singles and music videos was down 6.4% at £365.4m.

However sales of vinyl LPs grew 49% to £12.1m, the highest level of annual income for the format since 1995.

"The UK's record labels have re-imagined their businesses for a world of instant mobile, global access to music, driven by social media," Geoff Taylor, chief executive of BPI, said.

"With digital increasingly becoming its key source of revenue, Britain's music industry is fit and ready to seize the global opportunities it offers."

BPI's figures represent revenues from digital and physical music sales and exclude VAT and retailer margins.