The latest issue of Music & Copyright is now available for subscribers to download. Here are some of the highlights.
Midyear assessment of recorded-music and music publishing sector fortunes
With all the world’s major recorded-music markets and one or two other smaller ones having published midyear trade figures, Music & Copyright‘s annual assessment of the results suggests global recorded-music trade earnings from the sale of physical and digital recorded-music and income from music access services will rise at the lowest rate for five years. Although sales of physical formats have taken a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, gains from streaming should just offset lower sales of buy-to-own formats. In contrast, the publishing sector will see a fall in revenue this year with rising digital income unable to fully counter declines in most other revenue sources. The positive news for publishers is that estimates for the sector published earlier this year by Music & Copyright have been improved slightly.
Digital dominates record year for MCSC collections and distributions
Royalty collections in China have increased for the 11th consecutive year. In September the Chinese authors’ society MCSC published its business report for 2019, confirming that total collections had topped the previous year’s record and exceeded CNY400 million ($58.7 million) for the first time. New records were also set for distributions and the membership total for the society. Digital is easily the biggest revenue source for MCSC with the recent licensing deal signed with Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) continuing to boost the collection total. Also registering a positive year was TV and radio with receipts benefitting from the signing of a memorandum of cooperation with the two broadcast sector’s copyright committees. Background music income was boosted by new agreements with a number of music users.
Short-term gloom turns to longer-term boom in latest PwC music industry forecasts
Professional services company PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has published its annual assessment and forecasts for the recorded-music and live music industry sectors. In contrast to last year’s numbers which made for healthy reading for those involved in both music industry sectors, the latest forecasts have been greatly influenced by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Live music, which has previously proved to be a steady sector, is set to take a big hit with ticket sales and revenue from sponsorship falling by more than half this year. Although spending on recorded-music is still expected to rise, the growth rate for this year has been revised down from the previous set of forecasts. PwC is, however, confident that the live sector will bounce back in 2021 with revenue forecast to exceed pre-COVID-19 levels in 2022. North America is the largest music region and its share of total music revenue is set to edge up for most of the forecast period. Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Asia Pacific are set to lose share to the leader and Latin America.
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 Spain music industry report. Spain is one of Europe’s mid-tier music markets. The country’s recorded-music sector has been one of the region’s worst hit by digital piracy since the turn of the century. Although piracy levels are still high, spending on recorded-music has recovered somewhat. Last year saw sales rise sharply with spending on both physical and digital formats and services increasing. This year has been a different story with the physical sector suffering from efforts to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Spending on recorded-music was still up year-on-year in the first half, but economic problems and a high unemployment rate are concerning for longer-term growth. UMG maintained its position as the biggest music company, while the authors society SGAE is making progress in reforming the way it operates. Spain’s live sector enjoyed its best year in terms of turnover with festival popularity at an all-time high. However, COVID-19 has all but wiped out live sales for 2020.
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