The latest issue of Music & Copyright has now been published. Here are some of this issue’s highlights.
SPECIAL FOCUS: African streamers see telco partnerships and the region’s diaspora as key to longer-term growth
For the international recorded-music industry, Africa is a region in waiting. It has always come up short in terms of revenue from the sale of music, with piracy the long-time provider of local consumers’ music fix. While the advent of streaming turned things around in developed markets and provided consumers with a better option than unauthorized downloading, the same hasn’t happened in Africa. Although the IFPI reported a sharp rise in the growth rate of trade sales from the region earlier this year compared with developed markets, the actual African revenue gains were extremely modest. Some local streaming services have reported positive results in driving up user numbers, and the hope is these successes will continue. In addition to targeting users in Africa, the likes of Boomplay and Mdundo are now looking overseas to attract the more affluent African diaspora. (View in full)
ANALYSIS FEATURE: Digital licensing difficulties keep a lid on collection growth for China’s MCSC
Chinese authors’ society MCSC has reported a return to collection growth after suffering a dip in 2022, the first since 2008. In its business report for 2023, the society said rights receipts, as well as distributable income and actual distributions, were all up year-on-year. However, in reality, collections only registered minor growth, and distributable income was essentially flat. The three performance sectors of karaoke, background music, and live all registered a positive year, but the gains for the three were almost offset by a fall in digital income. MCSC blamed the dip on some large digital music services failing to agree new licensing deals. TV and radio experienced very different results, with the former down for the second year in a row and the latter rising sharply. Mechanical receipts from phonograms benefited from higher sales of physical formats, while overseas income was up for the second year in a row. (View in full)
ISSUE OF THE DAY: Music companies look to make gaming dollars on Roblox and Fortnite
Virtual concerts and artist takeovers of titles have become standard fare on gaming platforms. Coldplay is the latest act to engage in play as part of a multiplatform promotional push for the band’s latest studio album. To date, such initiatives have been little more than marketing campaigns that eat up valuable communications dollars. Moreover, although performances from avatar artists in game environments have attracted sizable audiences over short time spans, there is a need to create longer-lasting experiences. However, record companies are starting to realize that the combination of music and gaming activities could pull in serious revenue going forward. To make such a combination work in the longer term, greater effort and resource is needed to create evolving, dynamic virtual spaces that keep audiences coming back. (View in full)
COUNTRY REPORT: ITALY
In addition to the usual set of music industry statistics and news briefs, the latest issue of Music & Copyright includes a detailed Italy music industry report. During the transition from physical to digital, Italy’s recorded-music sector experienced several erratic years, largely due to the lingering dominance of physical formats. However, digital trade sales overtook physical formats in 2018, with a sharp rise in subscription sales more than offsetting falls in CD album sales and vinyl. The pattern of sales continued into 2019, but the toll from pandemic-related government restrictions on physical formats and performance rights in 2020 resulted in a flat year overall. Sales bounced back strongly in 2021, and for the next two years, sales registered double-digit percentage growth rates. Midyear performance details published by the local trade association FIMI suggest Italy is heading for another positive year of growth. UMG remains the leader in market share terms despite a second straight annual fall in share and four years of share growth for second-placed SME. After suffering a sharp fall in collections in 2020, revenue for the local authors’ society SIAE has risen annually. Last year saw rights collections benefit from the first full year of uninterrupted live performance since before the pandemic. Ticket sales to live music events were also boosted by normal trading conditions. (View in full)
If you would like more information about the newsletter or to set up a subscription, then send us an email Alternatively, if you would like to download a sample copy, just go here.
Published by
Published