Artists including Taylor Swift and Thom Yorke may have criticised Spotify over how much money it pays to artists, but the world's largest music label was not singing the blues after streaming
revenue overtook its combined physical and licensing sales for the first time. Universal Music's digital music sales rose 7% to EUR926 million in the first half. That was greater than the combined sum
of its
CD and vinyl revenue -- down 7% at EUR573 million -- and its licensing business, which grew 16% to EUR348 million.