The IFPI (International Federations of The Phonographic Industry) has released its Global Music Report for 2024, itemizing earning results for 2023.
The central result is this: 10.2% revenue growth in 2023. It is the topline growth figure in an multifaceted industry that earns money in several parallel formats:
- subscription streaming (+11.2%)
- physical products (+13.4%)
- performance rights revenues (+9.5%)
The IFPI breaks out the total streaming share of global revenue (subscription and ad-supported streaming) — it is 67.3% of the global pot.
One global infographic lays out the broad picture of 2023 revenue growth by continent:
“The partnership between record company and artist continues to define and shape music in all its wonderful and extraordinary forms.” –IFPI
An evangelizing spirit pervades this report, which is a 29-page infographic. Throughout, record labels and the artist-label relationship, are evangelized as the engine driving a robust industry.
We will dig into further coverage of this important annual data feast in coming days. For now, the report is freely available HERE.
The lede is that no one is making out but the major labels. The streamers continue to lose money, despite these growth figures and musicians get a pittance from streaming, plus they have to somehow navigate the ever changing streaming algorithm – which apparently rewards social media metrics more than anything else.
The music business isn’t thriving – it’s struggling as only the major labels are thriving. Touring, ticket sales and a really unfair and dishonestly developed royalty system all contribute. Ask most musicians how 2023 was for them and the headline won’t be so sunny.