Global recorded music – key figures for 2017
- Global revenue growth: +8.1%
- Digital share of global revenues: 54%
- Digital revenue growth: +19.1%
- Growth in streaming revenues: +41.1%
- Physical revenues: -5.4%
- Download revenue: -20.5%
Global recorded music revenues increased by 8.1% in 2017 driven by a 41.1% increase in streaming revenues. With 176 million paying subscribers, streaming is now the record industry’s largest revenue source according to IFPI in its Global Music Report 2018.
This is the third consecutive year of growth following 15 years of significant revenue decline with total revenues for 2017 reaching US$17.3 billion. Despite the recent uplift, revenues for 2017 are still only 68.4% of the market’s peak in 1999.
Streaming remains the main driver of recovering revenues and, for the first time, has become the single largest revenue source with 176 million users of paid streaming services contributing to year-on-year streaming growth of 41.1%. Streaming now accounts for 38.4% of total recorded music revenue and its growth has more than offset a 5.4% decline in physical revenue and a 20.5% decline in download revenue. Total digital income last year accounted for more than half of all revenue (54%) for the first time.
Record companies are working to fuel this recent return to growth by not only investing in artists but also in digital innovations to foster growth in developing markets and also deliver, manage and track the global distribution of music.
Their partnerships are creating new and engaging ways for fans to access music on multiple services and platforms and have contributed to Latin American revenues growing by 17.7% and Asia and Australasia growing by 5.4%.
The value gap
IFPI in common with national record industry associations are becoming increasingly concerned about the mismatch between the value created by some digital platforms from their use of music and what they pay to those creating and investing in it.
They point to services such as YouTube, which have developed into sophisticated on-demand music platforms who avoid licensing music like other digital services do, claiming they are not legally responsible for the music they distribute on their site. IFPI believes that the way forward to resolve this value gap will be by changes in legislation to ensure that the laws of copyright liability are applied correctly and consistently, so that platforms cannot claim they do not need to be licensed to distribute music.
