A new report shows music streaming on a massive rise whilst, unsurprisingly, downloads and physical music are dropping.

Music is important to Australians, representing the most popular media consumed online in Australia and Australia sits in the top ten in the world for it’s recorded music market. But in a country of music lovers a new study by Roy Morgan Research shows that streaming is on the rise, replacing more permanent music platforms.

The report looks at digital consumption of music between 2012 and 2016 and shows a significant rise in streaming music and radio, whilst downloads and physical music are seeing a drop in popularity. The study showed that, over a four week period, 19.7% of consumers aged over 14 had streamed music, which is an almost 100% increase from the same period in 2012 when only 10.3% were streaming.

Meanwhile radio streaming is also on the rise as 9.6% of consumers online between the same period used online radio streaming. It’s not quite the meteoric rise of music streaming services but coming up from 6.3% in 2012 it’s still a significant rise in users that will likely continue growing as music streaming does.

Meanwhile on the less positive side of things music downloads have seen a drop in usage from 6.1% in 2012 to 4.6% in the same four-week period this year. Additionally physical CD purchases have halved with only 1.1% of online consumers purchasing CDs compared to 2.1% of users in 2012.

No one can deny the meteoric rise of music streaming across the entire globe and whilst it’s a shame to see a decrease in downloads and CDs, streaming is clearly the preferable method for music consumers. The incredible increase in music streaming users across the world is also adding up to offset decreases on other platforms, resulting in the first boost to the industry in many places for years.