Vinyl will soon overtake CDs, a new report claims – and music is now bigger than cinema
- The music report shows that revenues now exceed global box office revenues
- The value of music sales and streaming has almost doubled in ten years
- Revenues are growing 11% year over year, but artists are not benefiting
Here are a few facts we never thought we’d see: Music is now a bigger business than film, and vinyl is about to overtake CDs. That is according to a new report by Spotify’s former chief economist (via MusicRadar), who has been tracking the value of the music business for a decade.
Will Page has spent a decade calculating the value of music copyright and performance rights, the rights that generate payments when music is pressed onto records, streamed on Spotify or played on the radio. And the value of those copyrights has risen from $25 billion in 2014 to $45.5 billion today.
By comparison, the film industry is a $33.2 billion business. While music has boomed, films have declined: box office revenue peaked at $41.9 billion worldwide in 2019.
Music revenues don’t necessarily go to artists – most of the music money goes to multiple intermediaries; Not all musicians who play music have written it, and writing music is where the most valuable copyrights lie – but the report details some fascinating trends.
The vinyl revival
In the US alone, Page says, vinyl will generate $1 billion for record labels by 2024. That means vinyl revenues are about to overtake CDs, not just in the US but worldwide.
There has also been a shift in the way music generates money. In 2023, revenue from live music performances surpassed that from public performance licensing, where commercial premises such as shops or hotels pay a license to play music to their customers.
It’s not surprising that digital streaming now surpasses radio and other broadcasting; the latter accounted for more than 50% compared to streaming’s 5%, but streaming is now the biggest moneymaker.
And interestingly, there has been a significant increase in ‘glocalization’. That’s where artists from all over the world sing in their own language, but have big hits elsewhere. For example, Colombian artists make more money from American streaming than the entire Colombian music industry.
It’s fascinating stuff, and you can get your music nerd on read the full report.
