The value of copyrighted music reached US$45.5 billion in 2023, notching double-digit growth year-over-year.
The industry saw 11% growth over the previous year and 26% from 2021, according to a report by former Spotify Chief Economist Will Page.
“Next year (when we calculate 2024) we may see copyright having doubled within a decade,” according to Page. In 2014, the value of copyrighted music was US$25 billion. “Make no mistake: it’s boom time.”
While 63% of revenue goes to artists and labels, 37% goes to songwriters, publishers, and their collective management organisations.
Growth among labels is mainly due to streaming, which has increased by 10.4%.
Physical music sales are also rising rapidly, up 13.4%. In the United States, vinyl will bring in US$1 billion of revenue by the end of this year, Page estimated.
Live performance revenue has outpaced general licensing for record labels, as concerts now earn more royalties than public broadcasting.
The report also notes that music copyright’s value has overtaken cinema box office revenues, which sat at $33.2 billion in 2023. Revenue from on-demand streaming video is now three times box office revenue.
Almost one third of all music streams in the United States are non-American artists, according to the report. South Korea has joined the U.S., United Kingdom, and Sweden in earning more money from domestic artists overseas than they spent on foreign musicians.