New figures have revealed that music streaming numbers went down over the last week, despite the coronavirus pandemic forcing millions of music lovers into their homes across the world.
According to Alpha Data, an analytics provider, streams in the US dropped some 7.6% during the week of March 13 to March 19 — the week when many Americans first self-quarantined and other non-essential outlets business closed across the country.
A similar slump was also seen in album sales and digital song sales. Physical album sales dropped by a staggering 27.6%, digital album sales fell by 12.4%, and digital song sales plummeted by 10.7%.
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This reportedly includes the $4.3 million in sales on Bandcamp last Friday when the company dropped its cut of sales to support artists.
Despite the drop, there was a raise in streams for classical music, which was up 1.5%, folk music which rose by 2.9% and children’s music which increased by 3.8%.
This comes as the UK became the latest country to announce strict coronavirus lockdown measures for the country.
In a TV address from inside 10 Downing Street, Johnson said UK citizens must stay at home except to shop for food and medicine, for only one form of exercise per day, and to travel to and from essential workplaces.
It followed Johnson’s call for pubs, restaurants and bars to close over the weekend
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