Global Recorded Music Industry Revenue Grew by 4.8% in 2024, IFPI reports

IFPI, the organization that advocates for the interests of the recording industry worldwide, has been releasing its annual report reflecting on the state and revenue of the recorded music industry since 2004. The 2025 report, covering the previous year, revealed that the global recorded music industry generated $29.6 billion in revenue in 2024, an increase of 4.8% compared to 2023. While this figure may not meet the expectations of some industry insiders, it signifies positive news amid the somewhat anticipated growth slowdown in the US and American markets.

The recorded music revenue in the USA and Canada increased by a modest 2.1% YoY, marking a relatively steep decline from 7.4% in 2023. This region is not the only one to have experienced a decrease in such revenue. For instance, in Europe, recorded music earnings grew by 8.3% (slightly down from 8.9%), while in Australasia, they increased by 6.4%, marking a drop from 10.8%. Among all regions, the Asian market experienced the sharpest slowdown in growth—there, the industry expanded by just 1.3%, down from 14.9% in 2023.

However, some regions continued to thrive in 2024. The Latin American market grew by 22.5%, up from 19.4%, while MENA experienced a 22.8% growth, a significant increase from 14.4%. Overall, every region, except North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania, achieved double-digit growth in 2024. Notably, Mexico became the 10th-largest recorded market in the world, surpassing Australia.

Meanwhile, the growth decline in Asia was primarily driven by a revenue dip in Japan, a major market that ranks just behind the USA in industry size. The slowdown in the region was offset by a 9.6% YoY growth in China and consistently steady growth in physical records in South Korea.

The IFPI also offers highly anticipated insights into the music streaming industry, which increased by 7.3% overall to reach $20.4 billion. This indicates that streaming accounted for 69% of last year’s total recorded music revenue, rising from 67.3% in 2023.

In general, music streaming continues to be on the rise. The industry recorded 752 million worldwide “users of subscription accounts.” Does this support Lucian Grainge’s theory, the CEO of Universal, that by 2028, there will be a billion paid streaming subscribers, marking the beginning of the Streaming 2.0 era? I suppose we will have to wait and see!

Furthermore, paid streaming revenue grew by 9.5% YoY—despite the ever-increasing subscription prices across nearly all streaming platforms. On the other hand, only 17.7% of the total revenue came from ad-supported streaming, which still reflects a 1.2% year-over-year increase, as reported by the IFPI.

The report further explores the current state of physical records. In this context, revenue unsurprisingly fell by 3.1% YoY to $4.8 billion in 2024. Here, the ongoing decline in CDs was partially offset by a 4.6% YoY growth in vinyl sales.

Finally, the sync category reportedly generated $650 million in global recorded music revenue, up by 6.4%, while permanent downloads brought in $828.8 million and public performances contributed $2.9 billion, marking a YoY growth of 5.9%.