December 6, 2019

Digital music revenues continue to grow, while digital collections paid to creators does not reflect this. On a global level, CISAC is driving new legislation to address this. On a local level a one size fits all approach will not work for CMOs and they must be dynamic.

CISAC, the world’s leading network of Collective Management Organisations, releases important music royalty collections research providing their global perspective on the industry. The continued growth of digital music revenues across global markets and its effect on creator incomes dominated this newly released report.

Based on data from 2018, CMOs are given valuable insight into the progress streaming has seen within the music industry. Digital revenues have achieved record numbers, seeing 29% growth in the past year, reaching €1.36bn. This continued rise in digital streaming is mitigating the decline in physical sales. CISAC member societies’ revenues have tripled in the past 5 years, a growth that is predicted to continue.

In addition to the global growth overview for digital streaming, the report provided insight into individual market growth. Looking at the ‘Digital Champions’ of the future, the report highlighted countries where revenues from digital royalty collections have reached new heights. For example in Mexico, in 2018 digital accounted for almost 49% of the total royalties. In addition, the report highlighted the rapid growth in markets and their impact on global revenues. Leading the growth rankings was the Asia-Pacific region – now accounting for 15.7% of global revenue. Revenues from digital sources are skyrocketing across the world, but particularly in emerging markets for streaming.

Despite the growth reported, CISAC President, Jean-Michel Jarre shared that streaming is presenting an issue for creators. Emphasizing the issue Jarre called this the “dark side of digital”. Despite rapid growth in streaming, royalties being collected for artists from digital sources account for just 20% of the total being paid. This does not reflect the share of digital revenues being reported, creating a significant gap.

A new legal framework is essential to address this issue. Jarre highlights that there has been copyright legislation created an international level, namely the European Copyright Directive. CISAC has lobbied for this legislation for many years, however Jarre shares that now the implementation will be the next step.

For CMOs, a one size fits all approach will not address their local issues. As royalty incomes become more fragmented and digital sources increase, the systems used by CMOs need to be more versatile than before.

Societies are transforming their operations to account for increasingly fragmented incomes and to manage data processing. The implementation of new technologies is essential to address the myriad of issues that streaming presents. 

CISAC is on the cutting edge of collections research and CMOs must heed their results. Streaming is going to continue to grow, while royalties paid to creators remains low. Holding member societies at the highest standards, CISAC demands accurate matching from its members. With this in mind, they have partnered with Matching Engine to encourage the adoption of high performance matching technology. Keep up with the rate of growth predicted in this report by implementing the Matching Engine technology.