Sub-Saharan Africa’s recorded music revenue increased by 34.7 percent in 2022 to make the region the fastest growing in that industry ahead of the United States and Canada, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and North Africa, Asia and Australia for the year.
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reports of 2022, the growth was driven largely by a significant boost to revenues in the region’s largest market, South Africa with more than 31.4 percent.
The global recorded music market grew by 9 percent in 2022 which was driven by growth in paid subscription streaming, while the total trade revenues for 2022 was US$26.2 billion, IFPI an organisation comprising over 8000 record companies worldwide reported.
Latin America came in second place with the region gaining 25.9 percent, and according to the report are maintaining more than 10 years of regional increases. It was also reported that every market in the region posted double-digit growth.
Middle East and North Africa, who were previously the fastest growing market in 2021, had third highest growth rate in 2022, seeing an increase of 23.8 percent. The region according to the report also posted the highest share (95.5 percent) for streaming of any region globally.
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Asia grew by 15.4 percent with its largest market, Japan, seeing growth of 5.4 percent whilst the second largest market, China, grew by 28.4 percent, becoming a global top five market for the first time. In a continuing trend reported by IFPI, Asia also accounted for almost half of global physical revenues (49.8 percent).
As Australasia experienced growth of 8.1%, revenues in Europe, the second-largest recorded music region in the world grew by 7.5 percent, with the region’s three biggest markets UK (+5.4 percent), Germany (+2.2percent), and France (+7.7percent) all posting gains. The USA & Canada region, the world’s largest region in revenue terms, grew by 5 percent in 2022. The US, which is the world’s single biggest market, grew by 4.8 percent exceeding US$10 billion for the first time and Canadian recording music revenues increased by 8.1 percent.
Subscription audio streaming revenues increased by 10.3 percent to US$12.7 billion and there were 589 million users of paid subscription accounts at the end of 2022. Total streaming (including both paid subscription and advertising-supported) grew by 11.5 percent to reach US$17.5 billion, or 67.0% of total global recorded music revenues. There was growth in other areas too with physical revenues growing by 4 percent, performance rights revenue increasing by 8.6 percent (returning to pre-pandemic levels), and synchronisation income climbing by 22.3 percent.
Commenting on the release of the Global Music Report, Frances Moore, IFPI Chief Executive, said “This year’s report tells the continued story of record companies’ commitment to their core mission – working with artists to help them achieve their greatest creative and commercial potential over the course of a career. That requires an artist-label partnership that constantly evolves and innovates so that it can capitalise on opportunities in more business areas and more parts of the world.”
He said Record companies’ investment and innovation has helped make music even more globally interconnected than ever, building out local teams around the world, and working with artists from a growing variety of music scenes. He further said the innovation is driving music’s development whilst enabling fans to seize the expanding opportunities to embrace and celebrate their own local artists and culture.
