Global Recorded Music Revenue Jumped 10.2% in 2023 Amid Double-Digit Growth in Latin America and China, Report Shows

A breakdown of global recorded music industry revenue. Photo Credit: IFPI

The IFPI has released its annual report for 2023, pointing to double-digit recorded music revenue growth fueled in part by a 19.4% improvement in Latin America and a close to 26% spike in China. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) unveiled the full 2023 analysis today, after previously disclosing the top-selling artists of the year. According to the organization’s Global Music Report 2024, the recorded music market generated $28.6 billion worldwide in 2023, up 10.2% year-over-year (YoY).

Behind that sum, the IFPI attributed 67.3% to streaming (consisting of rounded totals of 48.9% for paid and 18.5% for ad-supported), 17.8% to physical including vinyl, 9.5% to performance rights, 2.2% to sync, and the remaining 3.2% to permanent downloads and other digital sources.

(While the sync category delivered about $632 million as currently defined, a more all-encompassing classification, including film and TV usages as well as UGC platform licensing and much else, would produce a far larger sum.)

Those percentages are mostly the same as their 2022 counterparts, with sync’s share having declined by .2% YoY in 2023 and the shares of physical and streaming having each grown by .3% YoY. Furthermore, in spite of price increases and the 667 million “users of paid subscription accounts” identified by the IFPI for 2023 – up from 589 million – overall streaming revenue growth decreased from 11.5% in 2022 to 10.4%, the resource shows.

Running with the overlap between the recorded music space in 2022 and 2023, the positioning of the 10 biggest markets, despite 25.9% YoY growth for fifth-ranked China in 2023, didn’t change whatsoever between the years, the IFPI indicated. The U.S. topped both lists, of course, followed by Japan, the U.K., Germany, China, France, South Korea, Canada (up 12.2% YoY), Brazil (13.4% YoY growth), and Australia, respectively.

Nevertheless, the newest IFPI annual report does shed light on a couple key recorded music developments from 2023. First, notwithstanding its multi-year growth streak, vinyl (and CDs) drove a 13.4% YoY revenue boost in the physical category, up significantly from 2022’s roughly 4% physical jump. With South Korea-based K-pop diehards continuing to purchase their favorite acts’ releases en masse, per domestic sales data, Asia accounted for almost half of 2023’s physical revenue, the IFPI relayed.

Additionally, recorded music revenue growth slowed in each region except the U.S. and Canada, Europe, and Australasia, per the report for 2023. Moving forward, it’ll be worth closely monitoring the trends and their far-reaching importance in terms of per-stream royalty rates and more.

IFPI-Identified Recorded Music Industry Revenue Growth by Region, 2022 and 2023U.S. and Canada: 5% in 2022, 7.4% in 2023

Latin America: 25.9% in 2022, 19.4% in 2023

Europe: 7.5% in 2022, 8.9% in 2023

MENA: 23.8% in 2022, 14.4% in 2023

Sub-Saharan Africa: 34.7% in 2022, 24.7% in 2023

Asia: 15.4% in 2022, 14.9% in 2023

Australasia: 8.1% in 2022, 10.8% in 2023