Music industry earnings Q3 2022 Pre-recession growth

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20,000 foot view:  The early 2020s saw an influx of capital into the music business, with the promise of music rights being an asset class that was uncorrelated with the wider economy. The irony is that as music catalogue investments slowed (due to rising costs of capital), the first nine months of 2022 saw the music business deliver a performance that suggests the industry is indeed setting a path that is not being pulled down by recessionary conditions as much as many other industries. There were areas of concern of course, but the overall picture proved to be a positive one.

Key insights 

• Revenues across leading global music industry companies grew by        in the first nine months of 2022 compared to one year earlier
• The growth was accentuated by the post-pandemic rebound of live music, which saw a        increase
• While digital service provider (DSP) streaming revenue grew by just        the major music groups grew streaming (across recordings and publishing) by       
• Record label growth rates were highly varied, shaped both by diverse performances and volatile exchange rates
• The independent labels tracked grew by        compared to        for the majors
• The major record labels all grew merchandise and other expanded rights revenue by        generating        billion between        and        2022
• Publishers are getting a bigger share of streaming revenues – major labels grew streaming revenue by        compared to        for the major publishers
• Universal Music Publishing (UMP) is closing the gap on Sony Music Publishing (SMP), with its        2022 revenues being        of SMP’s, up from        one year earlier
• The Chinese DSP market is slowing, with Tencent Music Entertainment’s (TME) first nine months music revenue growth going from        in 2021 to 0.0% in 2022
• Slowing DSP revenue growth reflects the combined effect of the wider economic environment and growing saturation of the main streaming markets
• Despite slowing monetisation, the DSPs tracked added        million subscribers between        and        2022 indicating continued strong consumer demand 

Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Believe, Live Nation, LiveXLive, NetEase Cloud Music, Pandora, SiriusXM, Slacker, Reservoir Media, Sony Music Group, Sony Music Publishing, Spotify, Tencent Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Universal Music Publishing, Warner Chappell, Warner Music Group, YouTube

NOTE: The figures in this report refer to revenues and user numbers for the first nine months of 2022, rather than full year projections.