It's a good time to be an Australian artist.
That's according to ARIA's wholesale figures for 2018 so far, which shows that local music sales have increased by 6.04% since this time last year to $195,646,154.
This includes a 35% increase to subscription services (up to $104,997,595) and a 41% increase to video streaming (up to $14,615,972).
As expected, physical sales took a hit of 21.39% as the desire for physical CDs and singles decreases, however ARIA CEO, Dan Rosen, says today's figures prove that trend will only continue.
"The release of the half year results is great news as it shows that the growth our local industry experienced in 2017 looks set to continue in 2018," Rosen said in a statement given to The Music.
"Australian music fans are embracing music streaming services in even greater numbers. This trend should continue as more devices enable access to music, including smart home speakers."
Meanwhile, Caroline Australia General Manager, Tim Janes, told The Music that the news is "very positive" for local artists.
"It’s great for artists as the labels are making greater revenues, therefore probably prepared to risk greater investment in artists as the potential returns are greater than they have been for a very long time," Janes said,
"For indie artists, as the rights holders, they are getting paid better for music consumption than they have for a very long time. Both labels and artists are also absorbing way less costs with stock manufacturing, warehousing, obsolescence etc."
It comes after what has been a very encouraging year for ARIA and its music charts.
This past June, Sydney outfit 5 Seconds Of Summer broke a near-seven year drought for a local act to top both the Albums and Singles chart, while eight Australian acts have achieved #1 album debuts in 2018 (The Amity Affliction, Amy Shark, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Sheppard, Parkway Drive, Gurrumul, Kylie Minogue, Vance Joy).
If that wasn't enough, 5SOS made history again this past June when their latest album, Youngblood, debuted at #1 in the US making them not only the first local act to achieve the feat in three years, but also the first group in Billboard history to have their first three studio albums all go straight to top spot.
Meanwhile, Sydney artist Dean Lewis is on track to take out top spot on the ARIA Singles chart for a fifth straight week this weekend with his hit track, Be Alright.
Spotify have also confirmed the dominance of Australian music this week, revealing that 5 Seconds Of Summer's Youngblood was the most streamed song this winter, while other local names announced on the list included Dean Lewis' Be Alright (#6) and Peking Duk's Fire (#20).
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