Reports Music

Recorded music market 2022 Reality bites

Mark Mulligan
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20,000 foot view:  Following a spectacular year of growth in 2021, global recorded music revenue growth slowed significantly in 2022, due to the combined impact of global economic headwinds and growth slowdown in mature streaming markets. Context, though, is everything – not many industries can deliver solid growth while the global economy is in turmoil, ad markets are falling, and many emerging tech sectors are in crisis.

Key insights:

  • Global recorded            revenues were            billion in 2022,                       compared to            in 2021
  • While most            grew in 2022, streaming and            were the only growth segments            2022, up            and            respectively
  • Streaming represented            all recorded music revenues in            up from            in 2021
  • For the            successive year, Sony Music Group            was the major with fastest            streaming revenues, up            from 2021,            growing nearly five times slower            in 2021
  • Universal Music            (UMG) added more recorded music                       billion) in 2022 than either            the other two majors
  • Artists direct            fastest once again, up            with            of            billion 
  • Market shares            relatively stable, with UMG leading            share at            down            point, SMG                       points to            and independent labels                       point to           
  • The biggest            changes were artists direct (up            to            and Warner Music Group                       to           
  • While collective            label market share held steady            2021, it was down            points                       in 2022, due primarily to            market share decline

Companies and brands mentioned in this report: AWAL, CD Baby, Concord, Copyright Royalty Board, DistroKid, Kobalt, Meta, NetEase Cloud Music, Reservoir Media, Snap, Sony Music Group, The Orchard, TikTok, TuneCore, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, YouTube

Methodological notes:

  1. All revenue            referenced in this report are            USD, with all conversions from            currencies calculated taking the average            exchange rate for each quarter            the year. No constant currency            are used in this report
  2. Independent revenue            measured on a distribution basis,            an ownership basis. Therefore, independent            that is distributed via a            record label or a wholly            major label distributor will appear            the revenue of the respective            record label
  3. For the            time, in this year’s report,            has included merchandise and expanded            revenue of all major labels            had not previously been included)