Global recorded music industry revenues was up over 10% in 2023. It’s now worth US$28.6 billion.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the global organization representing record labels, has come out with its annual Global Music Report, which offers a look at the health of the industry on planet Earth.
Here’s what you need to know.
- Like the headline says, revenue was up 10.2% to US$28.6 billion. That’s an all-time high–if you don’t adjust for inflation from the gold era of CDs.
- Most of that increase was powered by streaming. Revenue from both subscriptions and ad-funded listens were up 10.4% collectively. Subs were higher by 11.2%,
- Streaming accounted for 67.3% of total revenues. Another 9.5% came from broadcast and performance, 3.2% from paid downloads, and 2.2% for sync licenses (TV, movies, commercials, etc.)
- 667 million people subscriber to streaming music platforms. That’s the first time the number has gone beyond 500 million.
- The fastest growing region for the industry is Sub-Saharan Africa, largely because of streaming adopting. In second spot (for the same reason) is Latin America and Brazil. In third place was the Middle East and North Africa.
- Weirdly, the growth rate for physical product was actually higher at 13.4%. Credit that mostly to vinyl but CDs also saw “strong gains.” Physical revenue accounted for 17.8% for the money brought in, slightly higher than the 17.5% in 2023.
Finally, here are the world’s top 10 music markets. Note that because of worldwide growth, Canada has slipped from fifth/sixth place (a ranking we traditionally battled Australia for) to eight.
- USA
- Japan
- UK
- Germany
- China
- France
- South Korea
- Canada
- Brazil
- Australia
