IFPI says global recorded-music revenues grew by 8.1% in 2017

IFPI says global recorded-music revenues grew by 8.1% in 2017

IFPI unveiled (in its Global Music Report) some interesting figures about the global recorded-music market: in 2017 it was worth $17.3bn, up 8.1% on 2016. That was a third consecutive year of growth for the industry.

Music-streaming revenues grew by 41.1% to $6.6bn, and now account for 38.4% of all recorded-music revenues: the biggest single revenue source. Those streaming revenues break down into $5.57bn from audio-streaming services (both ad-supported and subscription) and $856m from video streams. Paid-subscription audio streams, then, grew by 45.5% in revenues (the number of people using music subscriptions grew to 176 million – up 64m on 2016). Physical music sales fell by 5.4% to $5.2bn, globally, while download sales fell by 20.5% to $2.8bn. Digital music (streaming revenue plus download sales) now accounts for 54% of the recorded-music industry’s revenues.

In particular, Latin America saw the strongest growth at 17.7%, followed by North America (12.8%), Asia and Australasia (5.4%) and Europe (4.3% – down from 9.1% in 2016). Two of Europe's biggest markets – Germany and France – still have a sizeable proportion of their revenues in physical, so are affected more by the decline in that format.

The IFPI also delivered some warnings, focused on the ‘value gap’ between usage of music on free, ad-supported video services (i.e. YouTube) and the revenues it generates for rightsholders and musicians. CEO Frances Moore explained:

We’re still only 68.4% of the size we were at our peak in 1999. The race is far from won. We still have a job ahead of us… Much as the industry can do a lot on its own, and has done a lot, there is a structural fault in the system, in the market, where there is a real mismatch between what user-uploaded platforms are making from the content, and what they’re returning to the rightsholders. Until we fix that structural defect, there will always be a struggle to keep the growth in the marketplace… We’ve had three years of recovery, but a lot depends on the intervention of governments to help us fix the market.