IFPI Releases New Global Music Industry Sales Figures

The IFPI (the organization that tracks global music sales) finally released its annual report on the sales for 2015. If you've been reading this blog for a while, none of the figures surprise you.

Here are the numbers right out of the report.

• Digital revenues now account for 45 per cent of total revenues, compared to 39 per cent for physical sales.

• There was a 10.2 per cent rise in digital revenues to US$ 6.7 billion, with a 45.2 per cent increase in streaming revenue more than offsetting the decline in downloads and physical formats.

• Total industry revenues grew 3.2 per cent to US$ 15.0 billion, leading to the industry's first significant year-on-year growth in nearly two decades. Digital revenues now account for more than half the recorded music market in 19 markets.

• Streaming remains the industry's fastest-growing revenue source. Revenues increased 45.2 per cent to US$ 2.9 billion and, over the five year period up to 2015, have grown more than four-fold.

• Streaming now accounts for 43 per cent of digital revenues and is close to overtaking downloads (45 per cent) to become the industry's primary digital revenue stream.

• Premium subscription services have seen a dramatic expansion in recent years with an estimated 68 million people now paying a music subscription. This figure is up from 41 million in 2014 and just eight million when data was first compiled in 2010.

• Downloads remain a significant offering, but now account for just 20 per cent of industry revenues. Income was down 10.5 per cent to US$ 3.0 billion - a higher rate of decline than in 2014 (- 8.2 per cent). Full album downloads are still a major part of the music fans' experience and were worth US$1.4 billion. This is higher than the level of sales in 2010 (US $983 million) and 2011 (US $1.3 billion).

• Performance rights revenue grew. Revenue generated through the use of recorded music by broadcasters and public venues increased 4.4 per cent to US$2.1 billion and remains one of the most consistent growing revenue sources. This revenue stream now accounts for 14 per cent of the industry's overall global revenue, up from 10 per cent in 2011.

• Revenues from physical formats declined, albeit at a slower rate than in previous years, falling by 4.5 per cent compared to 8.5 per cent in 2014 and 10.6 per cent in 2013. The sector still accounts for 39 per cent of overall global income and remains the format of choice for consumers in a number of major markets worldwide including Japan (75 per cent), Germany (60 per cent), and France (42 per cent).

That's a lot of data to take in, but the big takeaways are that the total industry revenue remains flat at $15 billion, despite streaming's growth, and paid subscriptions are taking off, at 68 million worldwide as compared to 41 million the year before.

There's more than meets the eye here though, which I'll address in an upcoming post.

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SoundExchange Introduces A New Song Code Search Tool

You'd think that with so much music existing in the digital domain that it would easy to track down the usage and royalties for a song, but unfortunately that's still not the case. Despite calls for the recording industry, there's no one single search engine that can find that data, but SoundExchange recently came up with a step in the right direction.

SoundExchange now offers an online tool for looking up the ISRCs, or International Standard Recording Codes, that are related to the nearly 20 million recordings in its database.

ISRC codes have long been the standard method for identifying sound recordings, first being introduced in 1986. Each code number is comprised of a two-letter country code, a three-character code for the registrant, two numbers for the year, and five numbers assigned by the registrant. The RIAA oversees the ISRC system in the United States and its territories. The IFPI oversees ISRCs globally.

SoundExchange's search engine allows you to look up an ISRC code by artist name, song title, album, year, version and UPC/EAN. The result can be added to a cart for future reference, which can then be exported to a CSV file so the data can be inputted to a digital service's system. The IFPI also provides a lookup tool it created in conjunction with SoundExchange with identical information.

SoundExchange collects royalties for non-interactive streaming platforms like Pandora and satellite radio only.

As said before, this isn't the ultimate solution that everyone has been wanting, but it's the best solution so far in that it provides cross-check information to make sure that copyright owners are being paid at least in some areas.

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Your Music Won't Be Played In China Anytime Soon

China is one of the most populated countries in the world with over 1.3 billion people, 75% of which listen to music regularly.

That said, the revenue generated by music is stunningly small (see the chart composed of data from the IFPI) and it looks like it's not going to increase anytime soon, at least for Western artists.

Only 10% of the population currently listens to non-Chinese music and that's going to drop, thanks to the government's recent declaration that any kind of content from foreign media companies will be blocked starting March 10th.

Companies like Apple and the New York Times who have invested millions in China just may be out of luck, and if your music or content was aimed that way, so will you. The big windfall that China promised may never take place after all, thanks to the protectionist policies of the Chinese government.

Then again, if the video below is what they consider hip, then maybe we're not missing anything anyway. It's a communist corruption rap featuring president Xi JinPing.

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Spotify Still Gaining Steam

It's easy to look at the upcoming streaming music launches from Apple and Google and think that they'll automatically take the lions share of that end of the business, but that underestimates just how important Spotify is the current music industry.

Spotify is now responsible for 10% of the industry's total revenue as of the first quarter of 2015, if you can believe their Director of Economics Will Page. That's a number that few thought would ever be reached, at least from Spotify.

Considering that according to the IFPI, all streaming services combined equaled about 10.2% last year, that means that the company is a juggernaut in the space. Of course, it also means that the 10.2% mark has grown considerably in just 3 months.

Last year subscription music brought in about $1.5 billion, and Spotify accounted for about half that. According to Page, it also accounted for more than 90% of subscription music growth last year.

Granted, these numbers are coming from Spotify, so they're most likely biased, but it does show that the service has a real hold on the market that might be tougher to dislodge than any of the potential upstarts realize, regardless of how deep their pockets might be.

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Some Interesting Names Are On IFPI's Top Global Recording Artist List

The IFPI recently released its yearly sales report and among the things it revealed was the top global artists for 2014 in terms of aggregate sales and streams. This includes all of the artists releases in every format from CD sales to YouTube video streams.

Although the usual hot music properties make the list (Taylor Swift is #1, followed by One Direction), what's interesting is the names in spots 4 through 7.

There you'll find some "classic" artists that you wouldn't expect, namely Coldplay, AC/DC, Michael Jackson and Pink Floyd.

Here's the list.

GLOBAL RECORDING ARTIST CHART 2014

1	Taylor Swift
2	One Direction
3	Ed Sheeran
4	Coldplay
5	AC/DC
6	Michael Jackson
7	Pink Floyd
8	Sam Smith
9	Katy Perry
10	Beyoncé

What this means is that many of the legacy artists still have a lot of sales life left in them, but it also makes a statement about some of the current music, which looks like it's not filling some obvious holes in the market. That is, progressive rock, hard rock, r&b and prog rock.

There are plenty of current acts that fit the bill, they're just not being discovered at the rate that they probably should be. Then again, these legacy artists are some of the best of all time and their music still endures.

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Digital Music And Physical Sales Now At Equal Strength

The IFPI, the organization that represents record companies across the globe, just released its annual Global Digital Music Report showing that worldwide digital music sales equaled physical sales for the first time. Digital revenues grew 6.9% last year to $6.9 billion USD, which represents 46% of total revenue, exactly the same as physical sales of CDs and vinyl.

Overall, the global revenue for music stayed roughly the same in 2014 as the previous year, coming in at $15.03 billion, which was down just 0.4%. Still, some might consider that a victory considering that digital music sales continue to increase at a level that offsets the decline of physical sales.

A data point that jumps out of the report is that the number of paying streaming subscribers now tops 41 million, which represents an estimated 46% increase. This brought in around $1.6 billion in revenue, or about 26% of the digital market.

What's interesting about the subscriber number is that many feel that it's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to tapping the potential streaming market, since the report sites another 100 million users now subscribe to a free music streaming tier as well.

According to the IFPI report, a commissioned study undertaken by Ipsos across the top 13 music markets found that only 35% of Internet users accessed a free streaming service in the last six months. That leaves a lot of room for growth. Read more on Forbes.

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The Cost Of Breaking A Major Label Act

The latest IFPI (International Federation of the Phonograph Industry - boy, is that name outdated) recently came out with a report about the state of the music industry and a few of the elements that were analyzed included how much the major labels spent on developing new acts.

Here are some interesting figures.

• The cost of breaking an act is between $500k and $1 million.

• The typical advance averages between $50k and $350k

• Typical album recording costs are between $150k and $500k.

• The typical video production goes from between $50k to $300k.

• Tour support is between $50k and $150k.

• Typical marketing and promotional costs are between $200k to $700k.

Major labels spent $4.6 billion dollars this year on A&R and marketing their acts, and 27% of the major label's revenue went to A&R. According to the IFPI, this is greater than what the computer, pharmacology and biology industries spend on R&D.

Finally, there are 7,500 artists signed to major labels around the world. One in 5 is a new signing.

Most artists today really like the DIY aspect of building their career, but there's nothing like the monetary clout of a large label.

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A Look Into The Music Industry’s Crystal Ball

“Crystal Ball, Crystal Ball, tell me things as you think they will be.” The great thing about the music business now is that, unlike previous eras, it’s rapidly shifting and morphing at a faster pace than ever. That makes it difficult for some to keep up, more difficult for others to adapt, and pretty near impossible to predict what will happen ten years from now. That said, there are a number indicators that allow us to look into the near future and take an educated guess at what we may see just a few years down the line. Allow me to gaze into my crystal ball.

Streaming will become the primary way that most people consume their music. We’re only at the beginning of the streaming era of music and there’s a lot of room for growth. World-wide there were only 28 million paid subscribers of streaming services last year according to the latest IFPI digital music report, which is a drop in the bucket compared to the number of music consumers on the planet. More and more people are discovering just how useful the access model is as compared to the ownership model. It doesn’t take long to realize that your digital storage filled with a library of songs can’t compete with having access to 10+ million songs anytime and anywhere.

But there will be fewer outlets that deliver it. Right now streaming is a part of the industry that’s completely upside down financially. None of the major platforms, Spotify, Pandora, Beats Music, Slacker, etc., turn a profit yet, instead playing for the big score down the road when the economy of scale flips their way when enough new users sign up. Unfortunately by that time it will be too late. Apple will have entered the game with their own streaming service that will play on all platforms, and will be able to convert its massive existing customer base into monthly paying customers. Amazon will be in the game too, and Google will intensify it’s already potent efforts (perhaps with a separate new YouTube component). Read more on Forbes.

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The Rapid Rise Of Digital Music

Digital music has become a huge part of the global recorded music income, now bringing in just over a third of the total, according to the latest IFPI report. Here's a chart from Statista that shows how rapidly the sector has grown over the last 10 years.

As you can also see, downloads still make up more than half the digital music income, although expect that to decrease and for streaming income to increase in years to come.

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CDs Refuse To Die, And That’s Bad For The Music Business

The 2013 global music industry revenue numbers are in courtesy of the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonograph Industry - an outdated name if there ever was one), and streaming is now a huge part of not only digital sales, but all music sales. According to its latest Digital Music Report, streaming and subscription services climbed 51% last year, which accounted for $1 billion, over 27% of the total digital music revenue. When downloads are taken into consideration, digital music totaled $5.87 billion in 2013, up from $5.63 billion the previous year, despite download revenues dropping 2.1%.

While streaming and subscription appear to be the immediate destiny of the music business, the physical product side of the business refuses to die. Despite predictions that the CD format would be just a memory by now, physical sales of $7.73 billion still made up 51.4% of the total global revenue. Granted, that amount was down 11.7% from the previous year, but a $7+ billion business segment is still substantial by any measurement you want to use. In fact, it’s decreasing at a much slower rate than anyone ever predicted, and actually even grew by 0.8% in France.

All that said, total global music revenue fell by 3.9% last year to $15 billion, most of which was due to a stagnant and slowly changing Japanese music economy, the second largest music market in the world. Japan still centers mainly around physical product, which took a big sales hit last year, while its digital sales have yet to gain much traction. Japan, along with South Korea, was dominated by local artists, who held the top 10 sales positions for the year. It’s not known if that might somehow be a factor in the 16.7% sales slump that occurred in 2013, but it does show that Japanese music consumers are beginning to exhibit their preference for other types of music delivery. Read more on Forbes.

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Global Top Sellers Of 2013

The latest IFPI report is out outlining the recording industry's health for 2013. We'll cover the numbers more in depth in a future post, but first let's look at the top global sellers of last year.

Global Top Selling Albums of 2013

	ARTIST	TITLE	TOTAL SALES (M)
1	One Direction	Midnight Memories	4.0
2	Eminem	The Marshall Mathers LP2	3.8
3	Justin Timberlake	The 20/20 Experience	3.6
4	Bruno Mars	Unorthodox Jukebox	3.2
5	Daft Punk	Random Access Memories	3.2
6	Katy Perry	Prism	2.8
7	Michael Bublé	To Be Loved	2.4
8	Imagine Dragons	Night Visions	2.4
9	Lady Gaga	Artpop	2.3
10	Beyoncé	Beyoncé	2.3

Global Top Selling Digital Singles of 2013

	ARTIST	TITLE	TOTAL SALES (M)
1	Robin Thicke	Blurred Lines	14.8
2	Macklemore & Ryan Lewis	Thrift Shop	13.4
3	Avicii	Wake Me Up	11.1
4	P!nk feat. Nate Ruess	Just Give Me A Reason	9.9
5	Katy Perry	Roar	9.9
6	Daft Punk	Get Lucky	9.3
7	Imagine Dragons	Radioactive	8.6
8	Bruno Mars	When I Was Your Man	8.3
9	will.I.Am	Scream & Shout	8.1
10	Rihanna	Stay	7.9

One of the things that sticks out is that the sales numbers for these hits are rather anemic when you consider we're talking world-wide. Also, when you consider the amount of hype that artists like Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce and Daft Punk received, you'd expect the numbers to be much higher.

But that's the music business we live in today, where sales numbers aren't what they once were and probably never will be. That said, I bet if you look at the same artist's YouTube and streaming numbers (which I'll attempt to get), they'd be off the charts.

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Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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The Numbers Are In: Should The Music Industry Be Worried?

Billboard Magazine recently posted the Nielsen Soundscan year-end 2013 music sales numbers, and while they may not correspond exactly with the upcoming figures from the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) or IFPI (International Federation of the Phonograph Industry), I don’t think they’re far off the mark. I’m sure music execs everywhere are looking at the stats and wringing their hands, and in some ways, they should be, because it’s the first year since iTunes was introduced that digital music has suffered a decline.

In what should be a huge red flag for the industry, 2013 digital track sales fell 5.7% from 1.34 billion units to 1.26 billion. Soundscan hasn’t yet released their streaming numbers for the year, but it should be clear to everyone that streaming is the reason for the downturn. In fact, it’s been widely noted that the digital download sales decline has been offset by the rise in streaming income, which we should see quantified when the numbers are made available.

Perhaps a larger problem is that the album, the cash cow of the industry (although less so than ever), has seen its sales decline for yet another year. Album sales for 2014 dipped to 289.4 million units, an 8.4% reduction from the prior year, although digital album sales fell a nominal 0.1% to 117.6 units from the previous year’s 117.7 million.

We’re in the era of the single song sale, as albums mean less and less to today’s consumers. It’s a different time where the attention span is much shorter, multitasking abounds, and there are more media choices than ever, which is less than ideal conditions for a medium that requires a long time commitment. Albums won’t die, but hopefully they’ll be altered for the times, with fewer songs and less running time. That’s not going to bring the format back to prominence, but it might slow its decline. This is one time where quality trumps quantity for sure. Read more on Forbes.

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You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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Why Japan Is Nearly The World's Largest Music Market

A recent report from the IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) stated that Japan is poised to become the largest music market in the world. Yes, you read that right. In 2012, Japan was only 1.3% behind the United States in music sales even though it has only 41% of the population.

This seems to be a totally astounding figure, but as usual, the numbers don't tell the entire story. It seems that the Japanese market is a very different animal than the rest of the world. Evolver.fm got to the bottom of the issue by asking Alan Swarts, who's a former VJ for MTV Japan and knows the landscape there very well. Here's why he thinks it's different:

1. Everything is more expensive in Japan. CD's there are about $30 US. 

2. CDs have a fixed price. Unlike everywhere else in the world, music, books, and DVD prices are protected by the government and can't be discounted. 

3. Obsessive collectors inflate the market. As a result, a hit act will usually release multiple packages containing concert DVDs, remixes and outtakes, which makes for stronger sales. 

4. There is no digital piracy. Hard to believe, but illegal downloading almost doesn't exist. Most people buy music from legal sources. Let's chalk that one up to the ingrained ethics of the population. 

5. Digital music is still in its infancy. Even though iTunes exists, it's been somewhat squelched by a very powerful recording industry there. Digital never caught on because the music industry, with the help from the government, never let it.

So there you have it. The music business is growing and thriving in Japan like nowhere else, but this might also be the only place where it can still happen. It will be interesting to see if streaming catches on, as Japanese users completely skip over downloads.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

Follow me on Forbes for some insights on the new music business.

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Global Best Sellers Of 2012

Think you know what the best sellers are from 2012? You might be surprised. Here are the worldwide single and album Top 10 thanks to the IFPI. Of course, expect these numbers to change in 2013 as streaming becomes more widespread. Music subscribers were up 44% last year to 20 million and download sales were down 12%, and if that continues, these charts will change forever.

Global Album Best Sellers in 2012

	Artist	Title	Total (m units)
1	Adele	21	8.3
2	Taylor Swift	Red	5.2
3	One Direction	Up All Night	4.5
4	One Direction	Take Me Home	4.4
5	Lana Del Rey	Born To Die	3.4
6	P!nk	The Truth About Love	2.6
7	Rod Stewart	Rod Stewart	2.6
8	Rihanna	Unapologetic	2.3
9	Mumford & Sons	Babel	2.3
10	Maroon 5	Overexposed	2.2

Source: IFPI

Global Singles Best Sellers in 2012

	Artist	Title	Total (m units)
1	Carly Rae Jepsen	Call Me Maybe	12.5
2	Gotye	Somebody That I Used To Know	11.8
3	PSY	Gangnam Style	9.7
4	fun.	We Are Young	9.6
5	Maroon 5	Payphone	9.1
6	Michel Teló	Ai Se Eu Te Pego	7.2
7	Nicki Minaj	Starships	7.2
8	Maroon 5	One More Night	6.9
9	Flo Rida	Whistle	6.6
10	Flo Rida	Wild ones	6.5

Source: IFPI

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2012 Music Sales: No Reason To Celebrate Yet

In the last few days just about every print and online publication has had an article about the triumph of the music industry last year. It seems that sales were up for the first time since 1999, which no doubt is a good thing. But look a little closer at the stats and you have to come away with a "hmmmmm."

According to reports from both the international trade group IFPI and research company NPD Group, last year's sales jumped 0.3% to around $16.5 billion, and digital music, which increased 9%, represented 34% of that total. All well and good there.

Then you read that a lot of that was due to the fact that music piracy was down a lot last year:

• Consumers using P2P services to download music declined 17%
• The volume of illegally downloaded music files from P2P declined 26%
• Music files burned and ripped from CDs owned by friends and family fell 44%
• The number of files swapped from hard drives dropped 25%
• The volume of music downloads from digital lockers decreased by 28%
• 40% of consumers who illegally downloaded in 2011 stopped doing so in 2012

On the surface, all good news. By every account, music piracy is on the decline. But think about it - all this and total music sales only rose 0.3%?

Something's not working with these numbers, but I suspect it's the same as when the RIAA and IFPI were claiming that for every one sale, somewhere between 9 and 19 were pirated, depending upon the day and what side of the bed the researcher got up on. Let's face it, numbers like these were never dependable in the first place.

Here's something else that's scary. The biggest selling album of 2012 was the same as 2011; Adele's 21, this time with 8.3 million compared with over 18 million the year before. Once again, on the surface it's great that any album in the Music 3.0 age (soon to be Music 3.5 by the way) can sell this many, but bad in that there was no new album released in 2012 with enough juice to overtake it.

I don't want to come off like a naysayer, since I'm the biggest proponent that things aren't as bad as they're sometimes made out to be, and what we're living through is only the natural evolution of things. I'm just saying to always take industry numbers with a grain of salt.

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The Cost To Break An Artist: $1.4 Million

A new study by the IFPI shows that 70% of artists still want to be signed to a label because of the marketing support that a label brings, and that there are more than 5,000 artists currently signed to major labels world-wide. What's more, 1 in 4 of those signings are new artists, meaning that fresh talent is still a priority, according to the report.

The Investing In Music report goes on to say that record labels spend about $4.5 billion annually in A&R, and this a greater percentage of revenue than other industries like computing, pharmaceutical or biotech.

But perhaps the most interesting bit was the fact that the average cost to break an artist was $1.4 million in the US. This was broken down in $200k for an advance, $200 to 300k for recording costs, $50-300k for video production costs, $100k for tour support and $200-500k for marketing and promotional costs.

Those numbers are obviously not for the average record label signing, and it's hard to believe that they're even an average. I guess I don't get to work in the rarified air of a major artist enough any more, but there aren't many artists that I know of that are getting a $200k advance or a recording budget of $200k. And didn't the days of paying $50k+ for a video went away when MTV decided they were better off programming reality shows instead of music videos? And tour support.........that vanished so long ago that most artists consider it a myth.

Once again, if you're talking about a star artist trying to break into superstar level, these numbers might be realistic, but to make it seem like they're average costs makes everyone believe that we're still living in the 1980s.

There are some other interesting figures in the report, some of which you might want to take with a grain of salt. Remember, the IFPI represents the world's record labels, and what they publish is biased accordingly.

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The 2011 Music Sales Figures Are In

Finally we get a chance to look at the world-wide music sales figures from 2011, thanks to the IFPI's annual year end report called Recording Industry in Numbers. Here's what we found:

• Global sales were down 3% from 2010, but overall revenue was up to $16.6 billion. This was due primarily to increased global sync license revenues, which is still climbing.

• Physical sales slumped again by 8.7% globally to about $10.2 billion. 

• In the US, about 240 million CDs were sold, which amounted to about $3.41 billion.

• Digital revenues grew by 8% to $5.23 billion. Digital now accounts for 31% of the music market.

• Global performance rights revenues also grew by 4.9% to $905 million in sales, which accounts for about 2% of global sales.

• The US is still at the top of global sales, registering $4.37 billion, which is about what it was last year (although the RIAA claims the figure was more like $7 billion). Japan is second with $4.09 billion, which decreased by 7% over the previous year. Germany comes in 3rd with $1.47 billion, and the UK comes in 4rth with $1.43 billion.

• Fees from subscription services like MOG, Spotify and Rhapsody were up in the States by 14% to $241 million, with total subscribers growing to 1.8 million.

The biggest selling hits? Hold on to your keyboard:

• It's no surprise that Adele's 21 was the biggest seller, moving 18.1 million units word-wide and 8 million in the US. Michael Buble's Christmas came in second and Lady Gaga's Born This Way came in third, although sales figures weren't given.

• Bruno Mars had two of the biggest selling digital songs of 2011 with "Just The Way You Are" selling 12.5 million units and "Grenade" selling 10.5 million. LMFO's "Rock Party Anthem" came in third globally with 9.7 million units.

What's it all mean? First of all, the music industry is still huge by any stretch of your imagination. It's a $16 billion business that appears to have its decline leveled off and is on its way back.

Secondly, there were 240 million CDs sold in the US last year. Think of that - 240 million! And those are only the ones we know about. It's going to take a while until this format dies.

Thirdly, subscription is already throwing off about a quarter of a billion dollars in revenue with only 1.8 million total subscribers. Imagine what this will be like in the future as a revenue generator.

Lastly, everyone who's said the era of the blockbuster selling album was over was wrong, and Adele proved it by moving 18 million units in a year.

I've said it before, and the numbers prove the point - the music business is not dying. It may be morphing, changing, evolving or shifting, but it's not dying.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

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A Look At Digital Piracy

Here's an infographic from WebpageFX that uses RIAA and IFPI info to look at the state of digital music piracy since 2004.

Let's face it, if we use figures from industry sources then the piracy numbers are always going to be inflated. I've seen stats that say that for every one digital download purchased, at least 20 are pirated, but that seems way beyond the realm of reason. Piracy has always been a fact of life to the music business, even as far back as the late 60's when consumer reel to reel tape machines first came on the market. The major labels figured that they were losing about 20% to piracy then, and I don't see any reason why that figure should be higher than that today. That said, as we approach widespread adoption of subscription music, look for that figure to drop like a rock. Why illegally download when you can get whatever you want so easily?

This infographic actually makes the case that digital sales are up because of piracy, and you can easily make a case that that's true. As I say multiple times in my Music 3.0 book, "your music is your marketing." The more exposure it has, the more likely people are to buy it.

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The Music Industry Is Bigger Than You Think

Whenever someone mentions the phrase "the music industry" we immediately think of record labels and music sales, be they via a digital file, CD, vinyl record, cassette or some other method where we listen to songs. The business is a lot bigger than that, especially if we look at all the different categories.

The IFPI (the world-wide music industry trade association), recently released some figures from 2010 which shows the real reach that the business has. Here are the following revenue streams of the world-wide music business, from highest to lowest:

$32.5 Billion: Radio advertising

$27.6 Billion: Recorded music retail sales

$25.0 Billion: Home Audio systems

$24.2 Billion: Portable digital players

$21.6 Billion: Live Music

$16.4 Billion: Music Instrument sales

$9.0 Billion: Music and television magazine advertising

$4.8 Billion: Publishing

$1.7 Billion: Performance rights

As you can see, it's a huge industry worth $168 billion. Sure, there are a lot of facets to it, but it just goes to show that there are also a lot of consumers out there who are still willing to part with their cash in exchange for something to listen to, play or enjoy music with. Don't believe what you read about the music business dying. The numbers don't lie.

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You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for daily discussion of music, recording, and production tips and tricks.

Major Label Costs To Break An Artist

Here's an infographic by the International Federation Of The Phonograph Industry and brought to my attention by Digital Music News, which is the world-wide trade group for record labels. Keep in mind a number of things when you read it:

1) We're talking about a major label making this kind of investment.

2) Although for a new artist this was somewhat common even 10 years ago, an expenditure like this is more the exception than the rule.

3) If I were artist X or artist Y, I'd probably say, give me a small fund and a higher royalty rate, and let me pay for as much as I can myself, including promotion. There's a lot of money going to waste.

4) This is why the major labels are in the state they're in today.

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You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for daily discussion of music, recording, and production tips and tricks.