According to the Global Music Report
recently published by the IFPI, the organization representing the global recorded music industry, revenue levels in the recorded music market reached $25.9 billion in 2021 and are the highest ever recorded.
The 18.5% increase is mainly due to streaming, as streaming revenues, whether funded by paid subscriptions or advertising, increased by 24.3% and amounted to $16.9 billion, or 65% of total global recorded music revenues.
Physical sales, which accounted for 97% of the total in 2001 and 55% ten years later in 2011, now account for only 19.3% of the total, and downloads, which at their peak in the mid-2010s accounted for nearly 30%, now account for only 4% in 2021, as shown in the table below.
The Middle East is growing the most, at 35%.
Sub-Saharan Africa—featured for the first time in an IFPI report—saw modest growth of 9.6% in revenue in 2021, partly due to slower growth in the region's largest market, South Africa (+2.6%).
Like all other regions, Sub-Saharan Africa saw an increase in revenue from streaming, particularly ad-supported streaming, which grew by 56.4%.
It is clear that the cost of data in Sub-Saharan Africa is a barrier to the development of music and streaming.
As Sipho Dlamini, CEO of Universal Music South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa, points out, "Some African countries currently have the highest data costs in the world. But if you look at Latin America and how quickly markets developed once data costs were no longer a barrier, I think Africa will follow suit."
Let's hope this prediction comes true soon.