With the support of singers like BTS, Taylor Swift, and Adele, global music earnings climbed at their quickest rate in more than two decades last year.
In 2021, revenues increased by 18.5 per cent to $25.9 billion, the most since records began in the 1990s. Streaming was the main driver of growth, with 523 million paid customers in 2020, up from 443 million in 2020. Streaming now contributes for 65 per cent of overall revenue, with CDs, vinyl, and cassettes accounting for 19 per cent and downloads accounting for 4 per cent.
The rest 11 per cent comes from a combination of royalties and music licencing for films, TV shows, and commercials. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the numbers indicate that the industry has grown for the seventh year in a row (IFPI).
"It's hugely encouraging," chief executive Frances Moore said. "We lived through that dire period after 1999 where the industry declined by 40 per cent. We didn't envisage we'd be in a situation [this year] where we report on 60 or 70 countries and every single one is in growth."
Despite the fact that streaming is driving the industry's revival, revenues increased in all formats except digital downloads last year.
CD sales climbed for the first time this millennium, and vinyl sales increased by 51%. Total streaming revenue increased to $16.9 billion, which includes both paid subscriptions and advertising-supported listening.
While the results are encouraging for record labels, the independent sector has expressed concern that earnings are not being distributed fairly.
"It is good to see continued growth across the global music market... but it serves as an important reminder that not everyone is feeling the benefit," said Paul Pacifico of the Association of Independent Music.
Without "clear support" for up-and-coming musicians, he added, "it will remain very difficult to reconcile the positive numbers in the market as a whole with the hard reality of making a life in music at an individual, human level".
Since the invasion began last month, all of the record labels represented by the IFPI have ceased business in Russia, Europe's fifth largest music market.
Despite its size, Russia only accounts for 1.3 per cent of worldwide revenues (about $336 million), according to Moore, implying that the decision will have little impact on the global sector.
"We just want to get back to a situation where people in Russia and Ukraine can enjoy music in a peaceful, non-violent environment," she added.
According to the BPI, the UK music industry grew at a slightly slower rate than the global average, with revenues up 12.8 percent to £1.3 billion, but it remains the world's third largest music market, behind the US and Japan.
The United States outperformed the rest of the world, increasing revenues by 22 per cent, while lockdown-bound Australia grew at the slowest rate, at 3.4 per cent.
The IFPI study emphasised the increasingly global character of music consumption, with performers from Latin America, Africa, and Asia among the top 100 artists for the year.
BTS, a South Korean boy band, was the best-selling group in the United States for the second year in a row after topping the Billboard chart three times and receiving a Grammy nomination for their Michael Jackson-inspired hit Butter.
"Who could have imagined that 20 years ago?" Moore asked. "It's a phenomenon."
Taylor Swift of the United States was the year's second best-selling artist, repeating her position from the previous year, while Adele finished in third.
Adele's fourth album, 30, was the year's most successful album, selling 4.7 million copies, and The Weeknd's Save Your Tears was the year's most popular song.
African singers such as Wizkid, Ckay, and Burna Boy also had a great year, aided by the recently formed Afrobeats chart in the United Kingdom.
"It's an exciting moment for artists from the continent," said Temi Adeniji, managing director of Warner Music South Africa. "I really do deeply believe that this is a transformative moment for the continent."
She did say, though, that more might be done to reflect the diversity of African musicians.
"The continent is... much more than Afrobeats," she said. "There are so many different genres that we can take a look at that have the potential to do exactly what Afrobeats has done."
Ckay's Love Nwantiti's global popularity, according to Adeniji, is an example of how other countries are adopting African music.
"We really did break this track in non-English-speaking markets," she explained. "France was the first country in which the song went number one and that was definitely a first for us.
"It's also been a top three hit in the UK, we've gone platinum in the US as well and it's gone, I think, three times platinum in India. We're hoping to replicate that [with other artists] going forward."
(Source:www.fbcnews.com)
In 2021, revenues increased by 18.5 per cent to $25.9 billion, the most since records began in the 1990s. Streaming was the main driver of growth, with 523 million paid customers in 2020, up from 443 million in 2020. Streaming now contributes for 65 per cent of overall revenue, with CDs, vinyl, and cassettes accounting for 19 per cent and downloads accounting for 4 per cent.
The rest 11 per cent comes from a combination of royalties and music licencing for films, TV shows, and commercials. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the numbers indicate that the industry has grown for the seventh year in a row (IFPI).
"It's hugely encouraging," chief executive Frances Moore said. "We lived through that dire period after 1999 where the industry declined by 40 per cent. We didn't envisage we'd be in a situation [this year] where we report on 60 or 70 countries and every single one is in growth."
Despite the fact that streaming is driving the industry's revival, revenues increased in all formats except digital downloads last year.
CD sales climbed for the first time this millennium, and vinyl sales increased by 51%. Total streaming revenue increased to $16.9 billion, which includes both paid subscriptions and advertising-supported listening.
While the results are encouraging for record labels, the independent sector has expressed concern that earnings are not being distributed fairly.
"It is good to see continued growth across the global music market... but it serves as an important reminder that not everyone is feeling the benefit," said Paul Pacifico of the Association of Independent Music.
Without "clear support" for up-and-coming musicians, he added, "it will remain very difficult to reconcile the positive numbers in the market as a whole with the hard reality of making a life in music at an individual, human level".
Since the invasion began last month, all of the record labels represented by the IFPI have ceased business in Russia, Europe's fifth largest music market.
Despite its size, Russia only accounts for 1.3 per cent of worldwide revenues (about $336 million), according to Moore, implying that the decision will have little impact on the global sector.
"We just want to get back to a situation where people in Russia and Ukraine can enjoy music in a peaceful, non-violent environment," she added.
According to the BPI, the UK music industry grew at a slightly slower rate than the global average, with revenues up 12.8 percent to £1.3 billion, but it remains the world's third largest music market, behind the US and Japan.
The United States outperformed the rest of the world, increasing revenues by 22 per cent, while lockdown-bound Australia grew at the slowest rate, at 3.4 per cent.
The IFPI study emphasised the increasingly global character of music consumption, with performers from Latin America, Africa, and Asia among the top 100 artists for the year.
BTS, a South Korean boy band, was the best-selling group in the United States for the second year in a row after topping the Billboard chart three times and receiving a Grammy nomination for their Michael Jackson-inspired hit Butter.
"Who could have imagined that 20 years ago?" Moore asked. "It's a phenomenon."
Taylor Swift of the United States was the year's second best-selling artist, repeating her position from the previous year, while Adele finished in third.
Adele's fourth album, 30, was the year's most successful album, selling 4.7 million copies, and The Weeknd's Save Your Tears was the year's most popular song.
African singers such as Wizkid, Ckay, and Burna Boy also had a great year, aided by the recently formed Afrobeats chart in the United Kingdom.
"It's an exciting moment for artists from the continent," said Temi Adeniji, managing director of Warner Music South Africa. "I really do deeply believe that this is a transformative moment for the continent."
She did say, though, that more might be done to reflect the diversity of African musicians.
"The continent is... much more than Afrobeats," she said. "There are so many different genres that we can take a look at that have the potential to do exactly what Afrobeats has done."
Ckay's Love Nwantiti's global popularity, according to Adeniji, is an example of how other countries are adopting African music.
"We really did break this track in non-English-speaking markets," she explained. "France was the first country in which the song went number one and that was definitely a first for us.
"It's also been a top three hit in the UK, we've gone platinum in the US as well and it's gone, I think, three times platinum in India. We're hoping to replicate that [with other artists] going forward."
(Source:www.fbcnews.com)
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