New issue of Music & Copyright with South Korea country report

The latest issue of Music & Copyright is now available for subscribers to download. Here are some of the highlights.

SPECIAL FOCUS – Streaming gains set to boost music publishing revenue to new record highs
Music publishing is a sector of the music industry that sits somewhere between recorded-music and live performance. While in recent years, publishing has benefited from the rise of subscriptions and streaming, the sector also suffered from COVID-19–related national lockdowns and the wider hit to all things performance-based. For the last two years, publishing revenue has risen sharply. However, comparing one year to the next can be slightly misleading given the number of one-offs that can affect music publishers’ performance. While global publishing revenue is expected to increase again this year, the size of the rise is forecast to be more modest. Moreover, for the next five years, the annual rises will be in single-digit percentages. However, in compound annual growth rate (CAGR) terms, publishing is expected to just edge recorded-music.

NEWS FEATURE: AKM licensing revenue returns to growth after two years of decline
Austrian authors’ society AKM has registered its first increase in rights collections since 2019. In common with most other collective management organizations in Europe, performance receipts in 2020 and 2021 suffered from COVID-19–related restrictions on consumer movements. However, last year saw a return to growth, with public performance and live music registering sharp gains. Domestic receipts outperformed collections from overseas, although the latter suffered from longer processing times, and so should register extra growth next year. Broadcasting revenue was up, but digital registered a slight dip despite the positive year for streaming in Austria. Mechanical rights society Austro Mechana (AUME) had a flat year overall, as gains for broadcasting and digital were offset by a fall in private copying collections and income from audio products.

SECTOR ANALYSIS: Now is the time for Spotify to scale back on scaling up
Spotify is pretty much the global poster child for music streaming and recently posted strong user numbers for the second quarter of its 2023 financial year. The company has, since launch, focused on building a large user base to monetize. Spotify now boasts over half a billion listeners but believes this isn’t scale enough and wants to sign up even more customers. However, with losses of more than €4bn ($4.3bn) and mounting, the service should be trying to turn a profit. That means instituting a regime of regular price hikes and segmenting its audience to develop a range of tiered offerings.

COUNTRY REPORT: South Korea
In addition to the usual set of music industry statistics and news briefs, the latest issue of Music & Copyright includes a detailed South Korea music industry report. South Korea’s recorded-music industry is widely considered the most advanced in the world. Since the turn of the century, the sector has been through a massive transformation, from being almost overrun by piracy to becoming multifaceted, with both physical and digital formats and services flourishing. One of South Korea’s unique features is the healthy position for CD album sales. The format remains popular among consumers despite the rise of digital access. Sales of music subscriptions registered healthy growth last year, along with trade income from advertising-supported audio and video services. Korean-produced music continues to grow in popularity worldwide, and several K-pop bands have scored major chart success away from their home market. Local music groups dominate recorded-music distribution, with the major labels accounting for a low market share. Last year, collections for the authors’ society KOMCA hit a new record. Also, member payouts were the highest ever for the society.

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• Source: https://musicandcopyright.wordpress.com/2023/08/29/new-issue-of-music-copyright-with-south-korea-country-report-7/