Retailer JB HiFi is set to launch a streaming music service in New Zealand, but isn't planning on opening any new stores on this side of the Tasman in the next year.

The company last week announced an 8.3 per cent increase in sales for the year to the end of June and a $134 million normalised net profit.

But the launch of the streaming service called "JB HiFi NOW" in Australia before the end of the calendar year, and in New Zealand soon after, marks a divergence from the brand's "bricks and mortar" focus.

JB HiFi added three more stores here in the last financial year, giving it 13 across the country, but won't add to that number in 2012, while another 16 will pop up across the ditch.

Australia-based chief executive Terry Smart told BusinessDay that a lack of suitable properties was to blame for the stall in Kiwi expansion but more stores would open "as soon as possible".

Instead, JB HiFi NOW will bring the company's discount music market dominance to bear on a burgeoning section of online-only listeners.

Subscription-based streaming services look like a viable model for both music producers and retailers to corner a market that has been busily stealing content since pirated file-sharing and bit-torrent downloading became mainstream.

Just over a year ago Sony Music launched Bandit.FM here and in Australia after the likes of Swedish music streamer Spotify did well in Europe. Spotify has since started to service the US.