Italy’s Recorded Music Market Expanded by Over 15% During H1 2024 Amid Streaming and Vinyl Growth, Report Shows

The Italian music industry achieved over 15 percent recorded revenue growth during 2024’s opening half thanks in large part to a material streaming expansion. Photo Credit: FIMI

According to a new analysis from the Federation of the Italian Music Industry (FIMI), Italy’s recorded music market grew by double digits during 2024’s opening half. FIMI reached out today with that Deloitte-compiled H1 2024 breakdown for the Italian music industry, which is said to have generated a total of $226.5 million (€202.6 million) in recorded revenue during the six-month stretch.

That sum’s up 15.1 percent from H1 2023 and, predictably, derived chiefly from streaming. In keeping with the recent results reported by the majors, different market representatives, and certain on-demand music platforms, ad-supported audio-only revenue suffered a 1.1 percent YoY decrease in Italy during Q1 and Q2, finishing at $31.5 million/€28.2 million, per the resource.

But it was a different story on the paid-listening side, which expanded by about 23 percent YoY en route to bringing in $125.0 million/€111.8 million, according to FIMI. Rounding out the streaming category, video revenue hiked 23.5 percent YoY to $27.1 million/€24.2 million.

Factoring also for the couple million euros attributable to the long-contracting permanent downloads side, digital sources made up over 82 percent of Italian music industry revenue in H1 2024, the report shows.

Behind the other 18 percent or so, FIMI attached $7.6 million/€6.8 million to an evidently limited-in-scope sync category (up 4.5 percent YoY), leaving $33.0 million/€29.5 million for physical formats (up 5.7 percent YoY). Presumably when calculated at estimated retail value, CDs kicked in $11.0 million/€9.8 million (down 10.6 percent YoY), and vinyl sales jumped 16 percent YoY to approach €20 million, the organization relayed.

Lastly, in terms of noteworthy takeaways, each of the European nation’s top-10 singles and albums of H1 2024 was released by an Italian artist, FIMI noted.Shifting the focus to the bigger picture, the German recorded music market turned in a 7.6 percent YoY expansion during H1 2024, different data revealed last month.

While it perhaps goes without saying given the global prevalence of streaming and its apparent importance in the mentioned countries, on-demand listening expansion is an essential contributor to the revenue buildouts.

Running with that point, Spotify is becoming increasingly open to upping prices both generally and in response to developments like streaming taxes. But a month of Individual will still set one back just $12.28 (€10.99) in Italy and Germany, where new subscribers can also receive a cool three months of Premium for the ultra-affordable cost of free.