Widening gaps between streaming and physical sales
Following a buoyant 2023, recorded music revenue growth hit the brakes in 2024, marking the fourth straight year of seesawing growth rates, according to MIDiA Research’s Recorded Music Market Shares 2024 report.
The decade-long pattern of revenue highs and lows continued unabated, with 2024 proving no exception.
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The 6.5% growth was no small achievement considering the first half of the 2020s was characterised by global upheaval, uncertainty. These years were also shaped by the pandemic and rising inflation and interest rates.
Global disruption is not going away – 2025 has thus far picked up the baton and sprinted with it. The music business is going to have to get used to operating in challenging global circumstances, even before considering a growing catalogue of disruptive industry specific trends such as, bifurcation, the rise of the Global South, and a fast-maturing streaming market.
Key insights:
With so much uncertainty in the global economy, 6.5% annual revenue growth is an achievement in itself.
Nonetheless, the streaming slow down, coupled with another down year for physical, has emphasised a steadily increasing amount of market volatility.
Which makes the fast growing expanded rights segment so important for the industry. Not only does it do the crucial job of monetising fandom, it is fast becoming a hedge against stodgy streaming growth and the yo-yoing physical sector.
One crucial element to keep an eye on is the long tail of independent artists.
Measures like minimum earnings thresholds are taking a toll on Artists Direct revenue, and helping major labels throw speed bumps in the ongoing erosion of their market share.
Yet it is doing nothing to halt the growth of releasing artists who compete for ears.
Market shares
After a slower 2022, the global recorded music market returned to strong growth in 2023. It was, however, also the first year that the artists direct segment lost market share, with changes to the streaming...
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Sign up to our weekly newsletter by Thursday 20 March to receive a video of Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano sharing insights on the 2024 recorded music market share report. The video will be shared in next week’s newsletter edition released on March 21st.
