New issue of Music & Copyright with France country report

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

It’s time for the music industry to tackle the gender imbalance
Gender equality is a hot topic at the moment. There’s pressure in the music industry to increase female participation in the performance, management, and technical sides of the business, with women severely underrepresented across the board. There are a growing number of initiatives – mostly from the public sector – to tackle the gender imbalance, but many music companies simply aren’t yet doing enough to promote women, leaving themselves open to criticism. There are signs that the situation is improving. Live Nation rolled out an initiative earlier this year to support early-stage female-led live music companies, and Smirnoff has attempted to increase the number of female artists headlining at its sponsored festivals.

AKM sees collection growth, but Austro Mechana records annual decline
Austrian authors’ society AKM is on an unbroken streak of collection growth that dates back more than 10 years. The collection society has reported an increase in all of its main domestic income sources. Moreover, overseas revenue was also up year on year. Although digital registered the highest growth rate for AKM, the revenue stream is still a minor revenue source for Austrian rights holders. AKM subsidiary Austro Mechana (AUME) also experienced a rise in digital income, on the back of rising consumer use of streaming services. However, retroactive private copying collection in the previous year had an impact on last year’s overall performance by AUME.

Audio and video streaming gains boost US and Canada music consumption
The recorded-music sectors in US and Canada are continuing to feel the benefit of rising consumer use of streaming services. Consumption figures for the first six months of this year for both countries show streaming gains have more than offset declines in the sales of physical and digital formats. Although sales of vinyl LPs were up year on year, the results for the six-month period confirm the ascendancy of streaming. Not only have access services put both markets firmly on a stable footing, the shift from ownership to access has had varying degrees of impact on the sales of the different genres. R&B/hip-hop has benefited most, and after overtaking rock last year to become the most popular genre in the US, R&B/hip-hop widened the gap further on the previous leader.

France country report
In addition to the usual set of music industry statistics and news briefs, the latest issue of Music & Copyright includes a detailed France music industry report. Recorded-music sales in France look to have turned the corner after several almost unbroken years of decline. Earlier this year, the local trade association SNEP reported a second straight year of growth for trade earnings. The rise marked only the third time in the last 10 years that trade sales have registered an uptick. Royalty receipts have been relatively stable. French authors’ society SACEM reported a third consecutive year of collection growth in 2017 after a slight year-on-year decline in 2014.

If you would like more information about the newsletter or set up a subscription then send us an email