The latest issue of Music & Copyright is now available for subscribers to download. Here are some of the highlights.
Recorded music now firmly a growth industry, but for how long?
Ovum has published new forecasts for retail sales of recorded music which suggest that recorded music is now firmly a growth market. The value is expected to increase this year for the third year in a row and by 2022 retail sales will be at their highest level for almost 20 years. Virtually all developed markets are benefitting from rising consumer interest in subscriptions and streaming, and perhaps most importantly for record companies, emerging markets are beginning to show interest in these services too. Subscriptions will become the single biggest recorded-music category this year and will account for more than half the retail sales in 2019 and almost two-thirds of the total three years later. Ovum is also expecting the growth rate for recorded-music sales to slow over the next five years as the music subscription sector in most developed markets reaches maturity.
Live music sector set to maintain annual ticket sales growth
Measuring the annual performance of the live music sector on a global level is a speculative process. In contrast to recorded music, which is highly organized under the auspices of the IFPI, the live industry has no global trade association. Moreover, despite the recent emergence of a small number of corporate promoters, the live industry is not controlled by a few players, unlike the recorded-music sector, which is dominated by the three majors and music publishing groups. However, as in previous years, Ovum has taken guidance from the results of the corporate live leaders. Based on their financial details for the first nine months of last year, the live music industry is likely to have registered a positive 2017. Although the individual performance of each company differed, the combined earnings for the featured promoters showed positive overall growth, with combined revenue for the six set to top $11bn.
Control of in-car music slips toward the tech giants
Investments in the connected car continue apace as vehicle manufacturers keep on cutting technology deals. However, while until recently the in-car space looked to be the car manufacturer’s domain when it came to entertainment and information services, the auto industry is now set to be usurped in large part by tech giants Apple and Google. That’s because car makers saw little threat in letting smartphones get comfortably close to the dashboard, failing to realize that their customers’ intimate knowledge and everyday usage of mobile devices made bypassing often clunky in-car systems a frictionless way to enjoy their music on the road.
Spain country report
In addition to the usual set of music industry statistics and news briefs, the latest issue of Music & Copyright includes a detailed Australia music industry report. After a long difficult period for the recorded-music sector in Spain, trade sales have risen for three consecutive years and are likely to rise again when full-year results are published in early 2018. Similarly, Spain’s live sector has reversed a lengthy period of decline and registered three straight years of growth. Royalty collections in the country have been fairly flat for the last four years with annual changes in the low-single-digit percentages. Spain’s positive music industry figures come at a time when the Spanish economy is continuing to register real signs of improvement. However, in spite of the rising industry tide, the music sector, particularly recorded music, has a long way to go before it returns to the boom years of 20 or so years ago.
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