The worldwide market worth for music publishers – together with majors and indies – was EUR €9.8 billion in 2023, which interprets to USD $10.6 billion on the common trade charge for 2023.
That’s based on the newest International Market View report from the Unbiased Music Publishers Discussion board (IMPF).
Due to the slow-moving nature of publishing royalties, the 2025 report seems at 2023 knowledge.
That quantity consists of the share of revenues that stream by CMOs to publishers, plus publishers’ direct licensing collections, however exclude royalties paid to songwriters and composers.
The report additionally reveals that the worldwide worth of the unbiased music publishing sector was €2.57 billion ($2.78 billion), up 5.7% YoY in 2023, and up 105.6% since IMPF’s inaugural report in 2018, which pegged indie publishers’ worth at €1.15 billion that yr.
In accordance with the report, the 2023 whole gave indie publishers a market share of 26.3%, down barely from 26.7% in 2022, and it marks the third consecutive yr that indie publishers have seen market share drop.
In 2020, that they had 27.9% of the market.
Indie publishers’ market share declined attributable to “consolidation” within the music rights house, based on the IMPF.
Conversely, the key publishers noticed their mixed market share of the worldwide publishing enterprise rise to 60.6%, from 60.1% a yr earlier, based on IMPF’s estimates.
Sony Music Publishing remained the chief among the many majors, with 24.9% of the market (up from 24.7% in 2022), adopted by Common Music Publishing Group at 23.3%, down a tenth of a proportion level from the yr earlier than, whereas Warner Chappell Music took 12.4% of the market, up from 12% the yr earlier than, based on IMPF’s estimates.
The IMPF numbers additionally embody an “Others” class – music publishers with greater than 5% market share who’re categorized as neither “indie” nor “main.” The report didn’t establish which of them these are, however in earlier reviews they had been BMG and Kobalt.
The “others” took 13.1% of the worldwide music publishing market, down a notch from 13.2% the yr earlier than.
Nonetheless, indie publishers noticed revenues develop due to what the IMPF report described as “sturdy music rights collections by CMOs,” which rose 7.6% YoY in 2023 to €11.7 billion ($12.7 billion), pushed by speedy development in digital revenues.
“There’s a paradox right here as, on the one hand, unbiased music publishers’ market share is diminishing, however its world worth is growing,” the report famous.
“This may be defined by the distinctive development of the general music copyright sector and, specifically for music publishing, the expansion in music collections globally, boosted by the event of digital collections worldwide.”
On the identical time,” unbiased music publishers have been affected by an growing consolidation of the worldwide music publishing market, which mirrors an identical state of affairs within the recorded music facet of the enterprise,” the IMPF mentioned.
“Catalogs that had been beforehand independently managed have been altering possession and purchased by majors, BMG or Kobalt.”
This pattern is “anticipated to proceed,” the report mentioned, as a result of “songs have develop into scorching property, with high catalogs promoting for seven figures, if no more, making the publishing sector extra enticing to buyers, and leading to many unbiased corporations promoting to majors or large enterprise capitalist teams.”
“Songs have develop into scorching property, with high catalogs promoting for seven figures, if no more, making the publishing sector extra enticing to buyers, and leading to many unbiased corporations promoting to majors or large enterprise capitalist teams.”
IMPF
The IMPF sees this as a “concern” as a result of “unbiased publishers serve a key function within the music ecosystem. The discount of the variety of corporations and catalogs out there, and the brand new ranges of funding in catalog acquisition, closes unbiased routes to the music market, and has a unfavorable affect on cultural range.”
Utilizing knowledge from CISAC, the worldwide umbrella group of CMOs and performing rights organizations (PROs), the IMPF broke down publishers’ revenues by area. It discovered that Europe stays the most important supply of collections, at €6.0 billion ($6.5 billion) in 2023, up 8.3% YoY, of which €0.79 billion ($0.85 billion) went to indie publishers.
That was adopted by the US and Canada at €3.19 billion ($3.45 billion), up 7.9% YoY, of which €0.42 billion ($0.45 billion) went to indie publishers. The quickest development was clocked in Latin America, the place income grew 26.2% YoY, however from a low base. The area noticed €0.69 billion ($0.75 billion) in collections in 2023, of which approx. €90 million ($97 million) went to indies.
The Asia-Pacific area was the one one to see a decline, down 0.3% YoY to €1.78 billion ($1.93 billion). Nevertheless, that was “extra an element of antagonistic foreign money conversion charges, affecting primarily Japan and Korea, than a mirrored image of the dynamism of the area,” the report said.
India and China are “each displaying promising indicators,” with India now rating because the twenty fourth largest market in publishing income, at €57 million ($61.7 million) in 2023 – a notable achievement given it didn’t even rank within the high 50 till just a few years in the past. China ranked twenty sixth, with €51 million ($55.2 million) in income.
“Each nations have the potential to develop into high 10 markets in a decade or so in the event that they proceed to develop on the [current] charge,” the report said.
Damaged down by varieties of utilization, digital was “a main driver of development,” the report mentioned, noting that digital income overtook broadcast revenue for the primary time within the US and Canada.
“At €1.4 billion, digital now accounts for 43.6% (+12.6%) of the market,” the report mentioned.
“Sure markets have digital revenues now exceeding 50% of the whole, comparable to Mexico (69.8%), Sweden (64.7%), Australasia (61.4%) and Canada (53.2%).”
In a pattern that comes as no shock to anybody following the music enterprise carefully, revenues from reside and public efficiency grew in 2023, up 21.8% YoY, whereas revenues from radio and TV continued to say no, down 5.3% YoY, although that was offset by a 9.3% YoY bounce in digital income.
Waiting for the 2024 report, the IMPF is optimistic that worth hikes on the main music streaming companies, continued development in reside music, and “the resilience of conventional media” will translate into additional income development.
“The synch market can be anticipated to be sturdy as 2024 was marked by vital AV exercise throughout the globe,” the report famous.
The IMPF’s report compiles knowledge from CISAC’s International Collections Report, Music & Copyright’s annual music publishing market share report, and economist Will Web page’s report on the worth of the music copyright market.Music Enterprise Worldwide
