Streaming boosts recorded music revenue, China market growing

LONDON — Global recorded music revenues rose 9% last year to $26.2 billion, with growth registered in every region and an increase in paid subscription streaming helping drive sales, a report said on Tuesday.

Among the trends highlighted by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a trade body for the recorded music industry, were China nudging into the top five markets globally for the first time, and income from the use of recorded music in ads, film, television, and games, rising by 22.3%.

Revenues from CDs, vinyl, and other physical formats rose 4% to $4.6 billion, a slower rate than 2021’s growth of 16.1%, which was boosted by a post-pandemic recovery, the IFPI’s Global Music Report said.

Subscription audio streaming revenues rose 10.3% to $12.7 billion, IFPI said, adding there were 589 million users of paid subscription accounts by end-2022. Overall, streaming accounted for 67% of total recorded music revenues.

Global music revenues enjoyed their eighth consecutive year of growth.

“Record companies’ investment and innovation has helped make music even more globally interconnected than ever, building out local teams around the world, and working with artists from a growing variety of music scenes,” IFPI Chief Executive Frances Moore said.

“This is driving music’s development whilst enabling fans to seize the expanding opportunities to embrace and celebrate their own local artists and culture.” Total streaming, which includes both paid subscription and advertising-supported, increased 11.5% to $17.5 billion.

Also boosting growth were rising performance rights revenues which increased by 8.6%, returning to pre-pandemic levels. Only downloads and other non-streaming digital formats saw revenues decline, falling 11.7%.

Recorded music revenues rose around the world, led by sub-Saharan Africa which registered a growth rate of 34.7%, followed by Latin America with 25.9%, Middle East and North Africa with 23.8%, Asia with 15.4%, and Australasia with 8.1%.

Revenues in Europe rose 7.5%, while the USA and Canada saw gains of 5%. US revenues, the world’s single biggest market, gained 4.8%, exceeded $10 billion for the first time.

Puerto Rican singer and rapper Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” topped the 2022 IFPI Global Albums Chart while Britain’s Harry Styles won the IFPI Global Single of the Year Award 2022 for hit “As It Was,” the body said last month. — Reuters