In its annual analysis of the global music industry, audio intelligence firm MIDiA Research calls 2025 “a good year for the recorded music business.” Global recorded music revenue was $39.5 billion.
A particular focus of this year’s report is the fan economy — representing the purchasing power of listeners who spend money and time on live events, merchandise and other ways of supporting bands and artists. The publicly released summary is a concise graphic summary of that market, as shown below.
Two metrics show the financial impact of expanded rights income:
- 2025 market growth EXCLUDING expanded rights: 7.7%
- 2025 market growth INCLUDING expanded rights: 9.4%
Measuring that category apart from all other moneymaking activity provides an eye-popping year-over-year growth of 21.5% in expanded rights.
“The fan economy has fast become a central part of the recorded music business, from the global success of K-pop, through indie sales on Bandcamp, to major label D2C strategy.” — MIDiA Research
MIDiA’s write-up of this analysis, and the graphic, are HERE.