Global recorded-music revenues grew by 4.8% in 2024 says IFPI

Industry body the IFPI has published its annual Global Music Report, revealing that worldwide recorded-music revenues grew by 4.8% in 2024 to $29.6bn.

While this is a tenth consecutive year of growth, 2024 saw a sharp slowdown from the 10.2% increase for these revenues in 2023.

The IFPI’s report showed that recorded-music rightsholders’ revenues from streaming subscriptions increased by 9.5% in 2024, with the number of users of paid subscriptions growing from 667 million at the end of 2023 to 752 million a year later.

Overall streaming revenues grew by 7.3% in 2024 to $20.4bn, accounting for 69% of the total market. The 9.5% growth in paid streaming far outstripped the 1.2% increase in ad-supported streaming however.

Physical sales fell by 3.1% to $4.8bn, with declines in CD and music video revenues outweighing a 4.6% increase for vinyl – the latter’s 18th consecutive year of growth. Performance rights revenues grew by 5.9% to $2.9bn last year, while sync revenues grew by 6.4% to $650m.

The IFPI’s chart of the 10 biggest recorded-music markets was near-unchanged from 2023, topped by the US with Japan, the UK, Germany, China, France, South Korea, Canada and Brazil following in at order. However, Mexico was the 10th biggest market in 2024, displacing Australia.

In terms of regions, North America (up 2.1%) and Asia (1.3%) showed the slowest year-on-year growth in revenues, with Europe (8.3%) and Australasia (6.4%) enjoying brighter increases.

However, it was the high-potential territories of Latin America (22.5%), sub-Saharan Africa (22.6%) and the Middle East and North Africa (22.8%) which saw the sharpest percentage increases.

The report was unveiled at a press conference in London with representatives from all three major labels and their subsidiaries as well as IFPI boss Victoria Oakley. Here are some of the key talking points from that.

The growth slowdown

In her introductory remarks, Oakley addressed the elephant in the room with the IFPI’s latest figures.

“Look, that’s a slower rate of growth compared to last year and some other years, but it’s one that many industries would be not just pleased with, but frankly quite jealous of,” she said, reiterating that “every single region saw growth.”

Sony Music’s president, global digital business Dennis Kooker also talked about the slowdown in growth during the panel, suggesting that it is partly the result industry’s success in converting free listeners into paying subscribers – something which is now slowing down in mature markets.

Kooker said that growing average revenue per consumer (ARPU) must now be a stronger focus in the streaming world.

“What are the types of things that helped us improve ARPU? Things like raising prices, creating new tiers of service to better segment consumers, and improving monetisation of free tiers,” he said.

How can the latter be done? Kooker said that “in markets where the development is more mature I think there’s an opportunity to star to think about: is there a paid component to the free tiers?” – something that Sony Music has called for in the past.

“But also looking at the way that consumers are using the free tier, and ultimately, whether or not the product can be developed to better encourage either conversion or to improve the monetization on the free tiers, whether that be through payment or be through advertising.”

During the Q&A section, Kooker also fielded a question about ‘mid-price’ streaming tiers, and suggested that they are a tough proposition to make a success of.

“We’ve really tried with mid price tiers, and frankly, struggled to get them to work. Part of the problem is what’s on offer already on the free tier is pretty robust, and what’s on offer on the paid tier is everything,” he said.

“And so finding something in the middle that you can actually explain to consumers that is different than what’s already on offer of those two, I think, has been really, really challenging. I think that’s why we’ve struggled to find the right market fit for that mid-tier type product.”

AI is a tool… for better or worse

Oakley noted in her introduction that generative AI technologies are a key theme of this year’s report, including case studies of how artists have used them creatively.

“At its best, generative AI can be a really powerful tool for artists and consumers alike. In the report today, you’ll see some really fantastic examples of what generative AI can do – with permission,” she said.

“But we continue to engage with policymakers around the world to set out clearly that copyright rules, which have served everyone well for years and years, and given us innovative new services including streaming, that they need to be applied equally in a generative AI world and in a way which is transparent and practical for all involved.”

Kooker and Universal Music Group’s senior director, strategic technology and global digital strategy Casandra Strauss both talked in more depth about AI during the event. You can find our full report on their comments here.

Mavin sets DSPs a challenge in Africa

Another panelist at the IFPI’s event was Tega Oghenejobo, president and COO of Mavin Global, the Afrobeats label that is now majority-owned by UMG. He talked about the exciting growth both within Africa and internationally.

“We look at acts on our roster like Rema and Ayra [Starr], who we identified when they were very young, and we felt very confident about identifying these young artists: we could invest in them and put them in a position where they can see continuous success, not just locally but internationally as well,” said Oghenejobo.

“So for us, it’s exciting. We know how big the population of the continent truly is, and we’re hoping that the DSPS will keep investing on the continent, and labels as well as Mavin, and other players in the space like ticketing companies, publishing houses, will come to the continent to identify young artists and develop the space.”

Oghenejobo also had a message for streaming services in Africa, including local and global platforms. “We do think that if you’re in the territory, you would understand that consumer education is very critical,” he said.

“We want the value for the music to increase, and by increasing that value, we need these partners to be a little bit more aggressive with regards to pricing tiers and packages that they can promote to some of these consumers. We haven’t seen much of that aggression as we would like.”

“Largely, as local players, our expectations have not been met. We’re not really superfans of the free tier from a very long and stable mindset in the mind of the consumers,” he added.

“On the international front, we’ve seen some aggression, but we would like more. There’s vibrance within the space from the creative and just the people that work with the creatives, but we do expect more aggression as we look to scale and make it more sustainable.”

Data-digging and cross-cultural collabs

Also on the panel were Isabel Garvey, COO of Warner Music UK, and Stacey Tang, co-president at RCA UK, who both talked about the role data is playing in how they develop artists’ careers and audiences.

“We’re looking at converting people who are discovering music into lean-in listeners and true fans of the music. We’re also looking at all of the social media metrics, and the engagement and velocity and movement there. We also looking at first party data,” said Garvey.

“The world is also completely borderless, so we’re not just looking at our home market. We’re looking completely internationally and trying to understand trade routes and how to move artists through various territories,” she continued.

“We look at live and we look at even how artists are influencing culture and social conversation. So I think we’re in a brilliant era where we have a lot at our fingertips, but the key is actually interpreting that, and being really nimble and being able to pivot as the data tells us different things… We evolve the measure of success as we go.”

“My background is marketing, so it’s always been about how you tell an artist story uniquely. And I guess there are more platforms now to tell that story on, and there are more fans to reach, because we’re not looking at fans just in the UK,” agreed Stacey Tang.

“Fandom is borderless at the moment, so there’s a pool of global fans that we can commune with on behalf of artists.”

Meanwhile Kristen Burke, president of Warner Music Canada, talked about a cross-continental collaboration within her parent company. 91 North Records is a joint venture between Warner Music’s Canadian and Indian arms.

“We have artists that are from Canada and artists that are from India, and the two focus markets at the moment are Canada and India, but we’re working within Warner Music Group on the key diaspora markets with Australia, New Zealand, the UK, the United Arab Emirates, which have these pockets of south Asian people, to help grow what we build with our artists,” she said.