Global royalty collections for songwriters and composers reached a historical high point of €10.8 billion in 2022, according to CISAC’s annual report.
The increase of 28% year-on-year during 2022 was the largest rise on record and the first time that music income has exceeded €10 billion.
Collections ended the year 21.4% above 2019 levels. Thanks to streaming growth, digital is now the top income stream for the first time.
Every one of the world’s 10 largest music markets increased in 2022 with the average growth rate exceeding 25%. Just Italy and Japan remained below their pre-pandemic levels at -5.8% and -4.1% respectively.
Latin America and the Caribbean was the region with the sharpest collections growth, up 64.9% after three years of Covid-driven decline.
CISAC director general Gadi Oron said: “This is a remarkable return to growth as our whole sector fully recovers from the disastrous three-year pandemic. While live and public performance have bounced back strongly, the recovery is driven most of all by digital which has now become creators’ largest source of income. Streaming and subscription have not just revived the status quo, they have transformed the market, changed the game for creators and paved the way for future growth.”
Writing in his foreword to the report, CISAC president Björn Ulvaeus (pictured) said: “This year’s results show that the collective management system, despite all the enormous challenges it faces in adapting to digital, is still robust and effective. CMOs have the backs of the creators they serve and are now delivering more money to more creators than ever before. And that is good news – because, fresh from Covid and the economic squeeze, what we now face is another very serious, existential challenge – that of artificial intelligence. AI will radically change the world for creators and the creative industry. It demands international leadership and a strong united front from all parts of the creative industry.”
The UK growth has been apparent in figures from PRS For Music, which is targeting annual collections of £1 billion in the years ahead. Collections have passed a billion euros according to CISAC, which puts the UK at No.3 globally behind the US and France (the UK is also No.3 on IFPI’s recorded music rankings).
The UK’s royalty collections increase to €1.01 billion represented year-on-year growth of 24.3%. While that wasn’t quite at 2021 levels of 33.1%, it was enough to put the UK up one place to No.3 at the expense of Japan, where collections grew by just 3.6%.
Streaming and subscription have not just revived the status quo, they have transformed the market
Gadi Oron
According to CISAC, the 2022 result came from sustained growth in digital revenues, a post-Covid resurgence of live and public performance income, and a resilient broadcast sector.
The growth in live and background and digital added more than €1bn for each segment to the 2022 total, while TV and radio income remained resilient, rising by 11.4%.
Here’s a closer look at each of the sectors CISAC tracks by income stream…
DIGITAL INCOME
For the first time, digital has overtaken broadcast to become the largest global income stream, according to CISAC. It now takes a 37.7% share of total collections. It follows consistent user growth on music streaming platforms and some new and improved licensing deals with services such as Spotify, Netflix and Twitch.
The largest contributor to digital music growth was the USA, with collections up 44.7% year-on-year. Elsewhere within the Top 10 collecting countries, France grew by more than 40% while the UK and Germany increased by a quarter.
The UK is included in CISAC’s ‘digital music champions’ with a 48.7% digital share of total songwriting royalty collections. The UK is sixth in these rankings of major markets behind Mexico (70.4% share), India (67.1%), Australasia (64.5%), Sweden (61.9%) and Canada (53.4%).
Some smaller markets are almost entirely digital, including Indonesia (99.5% share), Vietnam (92.1%) and Thailand (83%). Some of these markets experienced exponential growth during the pandemic in terms of streaming.
Subscription video on demand (SVOD) growth continues, but is reported to be flattening as some consumers reduce subscriptions under cost-of-living pressures. PRS For Music in the UK still reported SVOD revenues up 16% to £40m, helped by new deals with Amazon and Disney+.
Despite the strong growth in digital income from streaming, royalties continue to underperform in the wider music context. The latest data will add to the ongoing debate about the value of the song in the streaming era.
Even with a record share of 37.7% globally in CISAC’s report, digital’s share of the market is well below the 71% for the recording industry (IFPI). According to GEMA’s report on streaming royalties for 2022, only 8% of subscription income typically goes to music creators.
LIVE & BACKGROUND MUSIC INCOME
Income from live and background sources increased by 68.2% in 2022 but remains 7.7% below the pre-pandemic total. Almost every country saw sharp growth, with France, Italy, UK and Germany each growing collections by over €100m. With pent-up demand, there was a rush of big stadium and international touring acts.
Live music has recovered markedly stronger than public performance. A sample of more than 100 music societies shows live royalties up 185.7% in 2022, compared to a 34% rise in background music.
Live and background collections in the UK grew by 67.8% to exceed the pre-pandemic level. More than 128,000 live music events were reported to PRS For Music during the year, with collections up 689%; public performance collections rose by two-thirds. Of the Top 10 European markets, only Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland were able to achieve this same feat and surpass 2019 figures.
The sector’s recovery has been more limited in smaller countries that lack larger festival revenues. While nearly all 25 top collecting countries for live and background saw this sector grow by more than 60% year-on-year, the bottom 25 collecting societies experienced modest changes.
BROADCAST INCOME
Royalties from TV and radio maintained the resilience seen during the pandemic, growing 11.4% in 2022. The sector ended the year 4.5% above the 2019 level. TV advertising trends vary in different countries, with some markets seeing declines as a result of weaker economies.
A rise of 20.1% in the USA and 18.9% in France generated more than two-thirds of the increase. India saw five-fold growth following IPRS’s new licensing deal with the broadcaster Zee Entertainment in 2022. In Spain, significant back payments from earlier years supported a 20.8% rise in collections.
Private copying remains a significant music income source for creators in some territories, totaling €248m, despite a decline of 8.7% in 2022.
Marcelo Castello Branco, CISAC board chair, said in his foreword: “The numbers in this report demonstrate that our global collective management community is experiencing an extraordinary wave of change. While it's fantastic that collections have reached record levels, we cannot ignore the growing inequalities and imbalances between different regions, income streams, and large and small societies. We must address these issues head-on, with CISAC leading the way. This means improving systems, resolving data problems, advocating for creators' rights, and maintaining the solidarity of our community.”
Subscribers can read our latest royalties report here.
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