Since 1999, with the spread of the Internet, the recording industry has plunged into the abyss, taking with it the vast ecosystem of players and companies operating along the supply chain.
However, since 2015 global sales have resumed growing at even very positive rates, and today the industry seems more alive than ever. The industry has been able to transform and adapt to the new consumption and distribution patterns of thea musica, in particolare, sullo streaming.
The music industry is now worth $19.1 billion, and 2018 was the fourth consecutive year of very positive growth that has characterized the industry.
The record market is divided into the following sectors:
- Digital: which in turn is divided into subscriptions to streaming platforms (paid or in the free/ad-supported model) and downloads or other forms of digital.
- Physical: which includes the sale of physical media (CDs, vinyls, etc.).
- Performance rights: representing the use of recorded music by public broadcasters (radio stations or public places).
- Synchronizations: representing revenues from the use of music in advertisements, video games, TV programs.
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Streaming that grew 34 percent to a value of $8.9 billion, while downloading saw a 21.2 percent decline to 7.7 percent of the total market.
The main growth driver is paid streaming (+32.9%), which is growing in almost all markets.
Revenues from physical sales, on the other hand, continue to decline, now weighing about a quarter of the total market (24.7 percent).
In contrast, an opposite fate to the rest of the physical sector characterizes vinyl; for the 13th consecutive year it continues to maintain a positive growth trajectory, now weighing in at 3.6 percent of the total market (IFPI, 2019).
For the sake of completeness, we also report the performance rights and synchronization sector, whose revenues grew by 9.8 percent and 5.2 percent, respectively (IFPI, 2019).