According to IFPI’s Report, the global recorded music market grew by 9% in 2022, driven by growth in paid subscription streaming, and total trade revenues for 2022 were US$26.2 billion.

Subscription audio streaming revenues increased by 10.3% to US$12.7 billion and there were 589 million users of paid subscription accounts at the end of 2022. Total streaming (including both paid subscription and advertising-supported) grew by 11.5% to reach US$17.5 billion, or 67% of total global recorded music revenues. There was growth in other areas as well, with physical revenues remaining resilient (+4%), performance rights revenue increasing by 8.6% and returning to pre-pandemic levels, and synchronisation income climbing by 22.3%.

Recorded music revenues also grew in every region around the world in 2022:

• Asia grew by 15.4% with its largest market, Japan, seeing growth of 5.4%, whilst the second largest market, China, grew by more than 20% (28.4%), becoming a global top five market for the first time; Asia also accounted for almost half of global physical revenues (49.8%);
• Australasia experienced growth of 8.1%, an increase on the previous year’s growth rate of +4.7%; Australia (+8.1%) remained a top 10 market globally and New Zealand saw a rise in streaming revenues push the overall market to growth of 8.0%;
• revenues in Europe, the second-largest recorded music region in the world, grew by 7.5%, with the region’s three biggest markets all posting gains: UK (+5.4%), Germany (+2.2%) and France (+7.7%);
• Latin America saw gains of 25.9%, maintaining more than ten years of regional increases; every market in the region posted double-digit growth;
• Middle East and North Africa, previously the fastest growing market in 2021, had the third highest growth rate in 2022, seeing an increase of 23.8% and representing the highest share for streaming of any region globally (95.5%);
• Sub-Saharan Africa was the fastest growing region in 2022 with more than 30% growth (34.7%), driven largely by a significant boost to revenues in the region’s largest market, South Africa (+31.4%); and
• the USA & Canada, the world’s largest in revenue terms, grew by 5% in 2022; the world’s single biggest market, the USA, grew by 4.8%, exceeding US$10 billion for the first time, and Canadian recorded music revenues increased by 8.1%.

To read IFPI’s press release in full and for a link to the Report, click here.