The IFPI confirmed yesterday that it will be publishing its annual Global Music Report on 23 March. With big markets like the UK, US and now Germany reporting their 2020 figures, we have a sense of the likely trends.
According to German industry body BVMI, recorded music revenues grew by 9% in its homeland last year to €1.79bn. Within that, audio streaming grew by 24.6% to €1.13bn, more than making up for declines in CD and download sales.
As in other key markets, vinyl bucked the physical decline trend, with sales growing by 24.7% to €99m. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, Germany was a 71.5% digital music market, and 63.4% of recordings revenues came from audio streaming specifically.
BVMI boss Dr Florian Drücke reiterated his now-traditional warning to policymakers that positive growth should not be a reason for them to go easy on YouTube in their approach to safe harbours – specifically the implementation of the latest European copyright directive.
So, 2020 brought 9.2% growth in the US, 6.8% in the UK and now 9% in Germany. Encouraging pointers for the IFPI’s global figures? Perhaps, but the other member of the ‘big four’ is Japan, whose recorded music market lost 19% of value in the first half of 2020. If that sort of decline continued, it may well pull down the global figures.
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