New issue of Music & Copyright

The latest issue of Music & Copyright is now available for subscribers to download. Here are some of the highlights.

SPECIAL FOCUS: UAE tops Omdia’s inaugural Middle East recorded-music opportunity index
Until very recently, the music business had registered little success from selling its wares in the Middle East region. But the climate looks to be changing, with optimism boosted by the arrival and take-up of music streaming services. Moreover, record companies have expanded their operations across the region, in most cases as part of alliances with local partners. Although the prospects look good for music streaming, there remains little hard data illustrating how individual countries are performing and which markets are most likely to produce the biggest returns for music companies. To shed some light on the region’s prospects, Omdia has published its first Middle East market opportunity index. The index ranks 10 of the region’s countries in order of potential.

NEWS FEATURE: CISAC reports record year for global creators’ rights collections
The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) has published its latest annual report on global creators’ collections. Combined revenue for creators of music, audiovisual works, visual arts, drama, and literature grew to a new high. After topping the €10bn ($11.6bn) mark for the first time in 2019, collections fell back below the milestone the following year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on performance-based revenue sources. Despite higher collections in 2021, the total remained below the prepandemic high. However, last year saw total collections exceed €12bn, with gains for digital, broadcasting, live, and public performance boosting receipts to record levels. SACEM remained the leading collective management organization (CMO) in revenue terms, ahead of the US CMOs BMI and ASCAP.

SECTOR ANALYSIS: Brands push deeper into recorded-music and look to mine AI
Brands are continuing their long association with music companies and artists but are now moving beyond mere sponsorships and music-driven advertising spots. Some are starting to see real value in joining forces with audio-streaming platforms, while others have launched their own record companies to create original songs or to mine proprietary recordings. Given music entertainment’s predominantly youthful audience, there’s a real opportunity for consumer brands, music firms, and artists to leverage fast-developing technologies with really strong engagement potential—with artificial intelligence (AI) tech solutions already beginning to power some new marketing campaigns.

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Absence of recognized licensing structures in the Gulf States opens the door to international collection-societies

Few regions in the world have escaped the spread of digital-music services. Even in the least developed territories, basic digital services, such as ring tones and ring-back tones, have been rolled out in an effort to tempt customers to go digital. But even though many of the Gulf States have highly developed technology infrastructures, digital-music services have been slow to take hold. Moreover, the lack of collection societies to administer rights collections has left the region as something of a rights wasteland. Could overseas involvement kick-start the rights-administration process?