The global music industry generated a record $29.6 billion in revenue last year, its highest revenue since its founding in the 1990s, according to new figures released Wednesday.
Online streaming plays a major role in driving growth, with streaming revenue accounting for 69% of total revenue, or $20.4 billion.
The International Federation of Recording Industry (IFPI), which represents global record companies, reported that 2024 was the industry’s decade of growth, with overall revenue rising by 4.8%. While physical format revenue fell 3.1% last year, vinyl sales continued to increase, the 18th consecutive year of growth, up 4.6%.
Taylor Swift is recognized as the most listened artist of 2024, and Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” is “Beautiful Things” that has accumulated 21.1 billion streams, followed by Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” (Espresso) with 17.9 billion streams and 1.7 billion streams of Teddy swims and lost control.
The United States, Japan and the United Kingdom remain the largest music markets, while the fastest growing regions are the Middle East and North Africa (growth 22.8%), sub-Saharan Africa (growth 22.6%) and Latin America (growth 22.5%).
Despite the industry’s success, concerns are being made about the impact of generative AI on music rights. IFPI CEO Victoria Oakley warned that AI technology uses copyrighted music to train models without permission. While acknowledging the potential benefits of AI, she describes it as a “great challenge for the future” and a “very real and current threat to human art.”
