Hardly surprising in the wake of recent events, but a new BPI report has outlined the extent of the “digital music switchover” driving trade away from the high street

According to the British Phonographic Industry’s findings, 19.6% of music shoppers have given up on record stores entirely, electing to buy all their music online instead. The report follows last year’s news that digital revenues now outweigh sales of conventional physical formats. 30.5m digital albums and 183.3m digital singles were sold over the course of the last year..

The streaming market, which includes services like Spotify, last.fm and Napster, is also on the up: it now accounts for 15.2% of digital income, and is worth over £49m a year. UK consumers streamed over 3.7bn tracks last year, and more than 25% of the UK population legally streamed or downloaded music in 2012.

According to BPI chief Geoff Taylor, the exodus shouldn’t be a cause for gloom:

“There has rightly been a lot of focus in the past few weeks on high street music retail. That will continue – we must do all we can to serve music fans who love CDs and vinyl. But as well as great music stores, Britain is blessed with a world-beating array of digital music services, which fans rate very highly for ease of use and value for money. And this is just the beginning…Market growth and digital innovation are dynamically intertwined, meaning the next 10 years should be equally as game changing and thrilling, as we look forward to the impact of 4G-connected TVs and in-car streaming on the horizon.”

UK album sales fell by 7 million in 2012. Regulatory body Ofcom have also suggested that a quarter of all digital music is now sourced illegally. [via The Guardian]