Welcome to Music Business Worldwide’s weekly round-up – where we make sure you caught the five biggest stories to hit our headlines over the past seven days. MBW’s round-up is supported by Centtrip, which helps over 500 of the world’s best-selling artists maximize their income and reduce their touring costs.
The global recorded music business generated $26.2 billion in trade revenues in 2022, up 9.0% YoY.
Those were the headline stats from IFPI‘s Global Music Report this week. But how did that compare to Goldman Sachs‘ predictions for the industry?
It’s… complicated. MBW explained how and why this week, in our most-read story of the past five days.
Elsewhere this week, TikTok was under fire in the US – as its global CEO stepped forward to take the flak, and make pro-ByteDance arguments.
He did so in the face of concerns over whether TikTok shares data with the Chinese government about its 2 billion-plus users worldwide.
Meanwhile, a new player in the song catalog acquisition space launched, with $100 million in its pocket, in AMR Songs.
Plus, MBW reported – via Luminate data – that nearly a quarter of all tracks on global music streaming services received zero plays last year. Zero. Plays.
Here comes the biggest music biz headlines of the week…
Credit: Shutterstock
1) GOLDMAN SACHS PREDICTED THE GLOBAL RECORDED MUSIC BIZ WOULD GENERATE $27.9BN IN 2022. IT DIDN’T. HERE’S WHY.
Spring/summer 2022 was a buoyant period for the global recorded music business.
The sector’s trade body, IFPI, had just published its annual Global Music Report (GMR) showing that worldwide record biz wholesale revenues in 2021 were up by USD $4 billion YoY.
Then, in June 2022, came Goldman Sachs, with an update of its own paper (and arguably the most influential tome in existence for music business investments): Music In The Air.
In the wake of IFPI’s glad tidings about 2021, Goldman upgraded its forecasts for the global recorded music biz’s future prosperity.
MBW’s headline at the time captured the celebratory mood: ‘Goldman Sachs: The global music industry is going to be worth even more than we thought.’
Goldman predicted in its updated report that the worldwide recorded music business would generate USD $27.9 billion in annual trade revenues in 2022.
However, IFPI confirmed yesterday (March 21) that the real revenue number for the global recorded music biz in 2022 was $1.7 billion smaller than this Goldman forecast, at $26.2 billion.
Happily, the reality isn’t nearly as gloomy as that comparison suggests.
It’s just a bit complicated…
2) TIKTOK CEO: ‘ALMOST HALF’ OF US POPULATION USES THE APP, AND A BAN WOULD ‘DAMAGE’ THE COUNTRY’S ECONOMY
TikTok now has 150 million users in the US, up from 100 million it said it had in 2020.
The short-form video app, owned by China’s ByteDance, revealed the number on Tuesday (March 21) as the company faces growing calls from lawmakers to have it banned in the US due to national security concerns.
“This milestone coincides with a critical period for TikTok. Certain politicians have raised concerns about the potential banning of our platform, which would directly affect all 150 million Americans who have embraced TikTok,” the company said.
In a video posted to the app, TikTok CEO Shou Chew said that the number of users in the US works out to “almost half of the US coming to TikTok”….
3) $100M-BACKED RIGHTS COMPANY AMR SONGS LAUNCHES, ACQUIRES INTEREST IN CATALOG OF THE LOVIN’ SPOONFUL’S JOHN SEBASTIAN
A well-funded new player has made itself known in the US music business.
AMR Songs (AMR), described as a new “music publishing, rights management, and catalog marketing company”, has launched this week with backing from private capital.
The Los Angeles and New York-based firm says it will use this capital for catalog acquisitions and frontline operations, including artist and songwriter development, label distribution, film and TV licensing, digital marketing, and more.
Sources tell MBW that AMR Songs has raised USD $100 million in backing from institutional investors.
MBW has also learned from sources that AMR Songs is already working on its second round of funding…
4) MULTIMEDIA MUSIC RAISES ANOTHER $100M, ACQUIRES CATALOG OF EMMY-WINNING COMPOSER SEAN CALLERY
Multimedia Music has secured what it says is a $100 million investment “uplift” from its group of investors and lenders (Metropolitan Partners Group, Bardin Hill, Pinnacle Bank and Regions Bank).
The new investment means that the company’s total funds raised to date grows from $100 million to $200 million.
Led by industry veterans Phil Hope and James Gibb, Multimedia Music launched in early 2022 with an initial $100 million in funding from Metropolitan Partners Group, Pinnacle Bank and Regions Bank to acquire catalogs of film and TV music rights from production companies, composers and other rights holders….
5) 38 million tracks on music streaming services were played ZERO times in 2022.
First of all, check this: There are 67.1 million tracks sitting on music streaming services today that, in the 2022 calendar year, attracted 10 or fewer streams apiece, globally.
That 67.1 million figure represents just under half (42%) of the entire catalog of tracks available on worldwide music streaming services as you read this (based on ISRCs).
Prepare yourself for the next statistical haymaker: Nearly a quarter (24%) of the 158 million tracks on music streaming services monitored by Luminate in 2022 attracted ZERO plays that year.
That’s approximately 38 million tracks. 38 million! Zero plays!
