Global recorded music revenues (Image Credit: IFPI)
Global recorded music revenues (Image Credit: IFPI)

Nearly half a billion users worldwide have premium subscriptions for streaming services

Global Music Industry on the Rise

The revenues for all mediums of recorded music have risen in the last year; even the CD is in greater demand again – especially in Asia.

Recorded music revenues developed positively for the seventh consecutive year: Global industry sales in 2021 come to a total of $25.9 billion. This marks an increase of 18.5 percent over the previous year, as the International Federation of the Music Industry IFPI announced on March 22 in London when publishing the annual "Global Music Report." A major contributor to this development is, of course, revenue from paid streaming subscriptions, which grew by 21.9 percent to $12.3 billion. By the end of 2021, there were a total of 523 million users of paid subscriptions services.

Streaming as a whole, meaning paid as well as ad-supported access, grew by 24.3% to $16.9 billion, representing 65% of global industry revenue. However, growth in physical formats (+16.1%) and performance rights (+4%) also contributed to this development. Germany continues to rank 4th in the global music market, coming after the USA, Japan and the UK.

For the first time in 20 years, there was growth in the physical market as well. Sales increased by 16.1% to $5.0 billion. In part, this was due to a recovery in the retail store sector, which was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Sales of CDs increased for the first time this millennium – the medium was particularly strong in Asia. At the same time, the regrowing demand for vinyl continued with very strong sales growth of 51.3% in 2021 (compared to 25.9% growth in 2020).

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Revenue development of the music industry in recent years
2 Bilder
Global recorded music revenues
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