HIGHLIGHTS AT A GLANCE

In 2024, royalties earned by creators around the world rose by +6.6%, reaching a record EUR13.97bn. A +11.2% rise in digital revenues was the primary driver, as subscriber numbers and new contract negotiations continued to expand. The live & background sector also saw a healthy increase, narrowing the gap with TV & radio, which returned to modest growth during the year. 

Live &  background revenues rose by +9.6% in 2024 to exceed EUR3.5bn for the first time. The total was more than one-third above 2015 levels and nearly one-quarter higher than the pre-pandemic peak. The strongest growth came from Canada/USA and Africa, which rose by +15.7% and +13.8% respectively, while Latin America was the only region to post a slight decline.

Streaming surges. Digital revenues from audio streaming and video-on-demand subscriptions grew by +11.2% in 2024, surpassing the EUR5bn mark for the first time and capping a seven-fold increase since 2015. As in previous years, the fastest growth came from smaller markets, where new licensing deals continued to expand digital income.

Broadcast income returned to growth in 2024, increasing by +0.8% after a -3.0% decline the previous year. While nearly half of all countries recorded national declines in the sector, reflecting the rising popularity of digital subscription models, this was offset by strong gains in the USA, France, and Spain.

Digital extends lead despite broadcast return to growth. The market share of TV & radio declined by -1.6% in 2024, allowing digital to extend its lead by a similar amount. This reflected the ongoing consumer trend of replacing traditional linear broadcasters with on-demand subscription distributors. Live & background also expanded its share, rising by +0.7% during the year. Conversely, revenues from physical formats continued to fall with the total now -37.7% below the 2015 figure. Private copying also decreased, but the multi-year nature of these levy payments makes fluctuations much more common.

Digital revenue continued to account for the highest share of smaller global markets, with the top six —Mali, Nepal, Philippines, Indonesia, India and Vietnam –— each surpassing 75%. This demonstrates the importance of digital collections to creators in these countries. For comparison, the digital market shares for USA, France and UK were 27.1%, 13.9% and 11.4% respectively.

Music royalties increased by +7.2% with the EUR12.6bn total representing a rise of two-thirds over the decade. A +10.8% increase in digital was driven by market growth in the USA, France and UK, whilst new digital contracts also helped smaller countries to thrive. Live & background income grew +10.4%, assisted by more live events and higher ticket prices. Together, these two leading revenue streams comprised three-quarters of the repertoire total. Broadcast income was bolstered by strong performance in Eastern Europe, but the +1.2% increase was not sufficient to keep pace with other revenue. 
 

Major shift in the balance of income streams

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Since 2020, digital income has soared by +110.6% to become the leading revenue source for creators. Remarkably, nearly 54% of all new income generated during this period came from digital, driven primarily by the surge in streaming subscription revenue. TV & radio income rose more modestly during this time, having risen by only +3.8% between 2015 and 2024. After losing its long-held status as the top income source to digital in 2022, broadcast now faces the real prospect of dropping behind live & background in the near future. (Graph in EUR millions)