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Observer
16-05-2025
- Business
- Observer
Composing, publishing music remains one of complex challenges
Composing, publishing and distributing music remains one of the most complex challenges facing cultural production globally — not only due to protecting musical works, but also in ensuring fair compensation for all contributors to the creative process. This includes composers, translators, publishers, distributors and supporting technical professionals, as well as the protection of a nation's artistic heritage, which is deeply tied to its cultural and civilisational identity. Modern technologies have played a transformative role in promoting and distributing musical content across various platforms. Music, in particular, has benefitted significantly — gaining exposure and generating increasing financial and economic returns. The global interest in music today is not solely cultural or social, but also profoundly economic. Within the growing knowledge economy, music is recognised as a dynamic industry, linked to production, consumption and shifting audience preferences. Thus, music contributes not only to cultural preservation but also to economic stability for musicians, composers and producers. According to the Global Music Report 2025 by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), recorded music has steadily grown over the past decade. However, the past year saw slower growth, impacting related creative industries and delaying recovery. Still, the report remains optimistic, noting significant potential for further expansion through innovation, emerging technologies and investment in both talent and infrastructure in developing music markets. The report underscores the vital role of production companies in sustaining and advancing the music sector. These companies are essential partners in identifying and nurturing talent, generating new revenue streams and connecting artists with audiences. Their work facilitates the commercial and creative success of artists at various stages of their careers. Moreover, they provide the resources for artistic development, innovation and technological support, allowing artists to fully express themselves and engage with their audiences. As intellectual property rights become a central concern for music-producing countries and companies, the rise of artificial intelligence poses a dual challenge. On one hand, AI fosters creativity and enhances artistic experiences; on the other, some AI firms — according to the IFPI — "consume" protected works by using copyrighted music to train their models, threatening the ownership and uniqueness of musical content. This raises serious concerns about copyright violations. The IFPI warns of widespread issues involving unauthorised downloads, redistribution, remixing, or alteration of protected works, posing challenges to digital broadcasting integrity and online protection. These infringements ultimately affect the financial viability of the music sector and undermine equitable income distribution among artists. Music, while being a historical expression of civilisations and traditions, also represents an economic asset that has long supported the livelihoods of creators. From instrument makers to composers, sound engineers to producers, the music community fosters cultural taste and appreciation. Many governments now recognise music's role as a pillar of cultural development and are investing accordingly. In response to the growing threat of AI-related copyright breaches, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has dedicated World Intellectual Property Day 2025 to music, under the theme 'IP and Music: Sensing the Rhythm of Creativity.' This initiative affirms the rights of composers as central to the music industry and emphasises fair compensation for their intellectual contributions. Protecting music is not limited to standalone compositions or songs; it extends to all creative forms involving sound, including audiovisual works, video games, film scores and more. Ensuring these rights includes safeguarding those of publishers, broadcasters and distributors. Music is a core component of the audio-visual industries. Its protection demands coherent legal frameworks, effective policies and ethical practices that secure the rights of creators. This, in turn, fosters trust in the system, ensures financial fairness and provides a secure environment for artistic innovation. Oman, with its rich and diverse musical heritage, has actively worked to develop this sector through legislation and policy. It has implemented frameworks for intellectual property protection, encouraged musical institutions, supported creative talent and facilitated investment opportunities, particularly in traditional music groups across the governorates. However, the rapid advance of digital platforms and AI technologies poses new challenges. Music is increasingly vulnerable to exploitation and safeguarding it requires not only legal protection but also a shared ethical commitment. Upholding these rights is a collective responsibility — between institutions and individuals alike. Aisha al Darmaki is a researcher specialising in semiotics and a member of the State Council. The original version of this article was published in Arabic in the print edition of Oman newspaper on May 11, 2025. — Translated by Badr al Dhafari
BBC News
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Benson Boone tells haters to 'at least have a good reason'
Benson Boone scored the world's most popular song of last year with Beautiful Things - but that success has come with a US singer has now sent a message to his haters, asking them to make their criticism more constructive."If you hate me or my music at least have a good reason for it," the 22-year-old wrote in a message on TikTok."I just read a comment that said 'idek [I dont even know] why I hate Benson Boone but it feels right.' Like WHAT!? how am I supposed to improve after reading that?" The star, who is also known for his love of sparkly catsuits and doing athletic on-stage backflips, added: "At least say something valid like 'he low key just flips everywhere can he doing anything else?'"Or even 'I just don't like his songs even though I'm basing my opinion off the only one that I've heard over and over' (super valid)."Boone captioned the video containing his message: "I'm literally giving you ideas." Boone's breakout hit has been near-inescapable on radio and social media, and the impassioned folk-pop anthem is still in both the US and UK top 10s more than a year after its was the most popular single of 2024 across digital platforms, with more than two billion streams, according to global music trade body the IFPI, beating hits by Sabrina Carpenter, Teddy Swims and Billie was nominated for a Grammy and two Brit Awards, and made headlines at the first weekend of the recent Coachella festival when he brought out Queen guitarist Brian May to perform Bohemian with such ubiquity comes savage review of his first Coachella set pulled no punches and summed up the sentiment of those who can't stand him."Benson Boone is horrible, just godawful, the kind of act that makes you wonder if this whole medium has been worth it," the site's critic Paul A Thompson wrote."His main stage set, at 7pm on Friday - a preposterous slot for him - was nine absolutely insipid originals that seem designed to soundtrack tearful front-facing confession videos followed by a galling (and inexplicably Brian May-assisted) cover of Bohemian Rhapsody."I didn't love it."Nora Princiotti, co-host of the We're Obsessed podcast, then waded in."I'm also a Benson Boone hater," she said. "So... reading these [Pitchfork] paragraphs and seeing them tweeted out cleared my skin and corrected my posture, because I don't care that that man can do a flip, I hate that song that's all over TikTok, Beautiful Things. "I hated having to talk about it in conjunction with the Grammys. It didn't deserve anything and I never want to think about him again."But Boone isn't going away - he is playing a string of other North American festivals this summer, and is releasing his second album, American Heart, in June.
Euronews
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Streaming revenues exceeded $20bn for the first time ever in 2024, says Global Music Report
ADVERTISEMENT 2024 was quite the year for women in music: Taylor Swift's Eras Tour became the highest grossing tour in history, Beyoncé became the most Grammy nominated artist ever (99) and the top 3 albums of the year globally were from Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpenter. But what do the financials of the industry look like and what are the trends shaping the industry right now? In this episode of The Big Question, Hannah Brown is joined by Victoria Oakley, the CEO of the global body for record labels IFPI, to discuss their latest Global Music Report. How much is the music industry worth? The 'music industry' isn't just one single industry - it's made up of many different parts which in turn influence other industries like travel, hospitality, fashion - as demonstrated by the 2024 ' Swiftonomics ' phenomenon. 'So touring and live and concerts are huge, right? Then streaming - where you perhaps do an awful lot of your listening, there is publishing, there is songwriting , there is music for film, there's music for adverts, there is merchandising. There's this whole ecosystem of different ways in which artists both reach their fans and make money and can thrive as artists,' Victoria explained. According to IFPI's Global Music Report 2025, just one sector of it, global recorded music, grew 4.8% in 2024 and was valued at $29.6 billion (€27.1bn). Though the industry's growth may have slowed in recent years, it's still outperforming many others and significantly higher than the average global GDP growth in 2024 - 3.2% according to the OECD. Europe represented 29.5% of the global figure and grew at a rate of 8.3%, significantly higher than the US & Canada's +2.1%. That's despite the fact that the USA is the world's largest music market, followed by Japan, the UK and then Germany. The main revenue driver? Streaming . Related Beyond Barbie: The toy industry is no longer just for kids, says Mattel The Big Question: How will AI transform the travel industry? What is driving growth in the recording industry? Subscription streaming grew by 9.5% and the number of users across the globe rose 10.6% to 752 million people in 2024. In fact, streaming revenues exceeded $20bn for the first time ever in 2024 ($20.4bn / €18.6bn) and represented 69% of total recorded music revenues. To put that in perspective, $20bn is more than the entire recorded music industry revenues for each year between 2003 and 2020. While streaming is the main driver, it's not the only factor. Although CDs are still popular in Japan, overall physical formats decreased 3.1%. However, that's not the case for vinyl . Vinyl revenues continued to grow in 2024, up 4.6%, which was the 18th consecutive year of growth. ADVERTISEMENT 'In South Korea it's absolutely huge and actually in other parts of the world where they're listening to K-pop , they often buy it first on vinyl,' Victoria said. 'What you also have is a lot of superfans buying vinyl as a collector's item and they will buy multiple different versions. 'So you may have an artist who releases essentially the same record, but with different colours of vinyl, different artwork, different material, different words, different poetry on the insert and it's really important to fans who want to have that really strong personal connectivity with their artist.' Hannah Brown is joined by CEO of IFPI, Victoria Oakley on The Big Question Euronews Related Is the $10bn Spotify gave artists last year enough to silence its critics? What are the trends shaping the music industry right now? '15 to 20+ years ago, you had to sing in English to really make it to the top and so music from America, Britain, Canada did incredibly well in most places.' ADVERTISEMENT 'That is just not the case anymore, anywhere in the world,' Victoria stated. In fact, every European country predominantly listens to music in their own language and so the challenge now is increasing exports to other markets. 'Who'd have thought ten years ago that every teenager all over the world would be listening to K-pop? And so if South Korea can do it, there's no reason that nobody else can't.' 'It's a little bit trickier if your music is in a language that is spoken by very few people around the world but [...] it absolutely can be done,' Victoria added. ADVERTISEMENT The biggest market growths in 2024 were seen in Latin America (+22.5%), Middle East & North Africa (+22.8%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (+22.8%). 'I think one of the interesting stories in terms of Latin American music is how it's reaching the broader world, perhaps taking its rightful place on the global stage.' 'I also think there are a number of countries that are coming into their moment in the music industry in the coming years.' 'So quite what will happen in China and quite what will happen in India remain uncertain but those are huge markets with huge diversity and variety in both their offer of music and what they listen to. And so I think watching both of those markets over the coming years will be really interesting.' ADVERTISEMENT The Big Question is a series from Euronews Business where we sit down with industry leaders and experts to discuss some of the most important topics on today's agenda. Watch the video above for the full conversation about the Global Music Report.
The Independent
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Ed Sheeran writes urgent open letter to Keir Starmer for music education funding: ‘The time to act is now'
Ed Sheeran has written an open letter to prime minister Keir Starmer and the government calling for immediate, long-term funding of music education in the UK. He and more than 600 other artists and industry leaders, including Harry Styles, Elton John, Stormzy, Robert Plant and Eric Clapton, are appealing for a £250m UK music education package this spring to repair 'decades of dismantling music'. 'As an industry, we bring in £7.6bn into the UK economy, yet the next generation is not there to take the reins,' Sheeran said. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, 34, is one of Britain's most successful music exports. In 2017, his album Divide became the biggest-selling of the year worldwide, and was credited with helping to propel a record seven per cent growth in export revenues of British music. That same year, Sheeran appeared alongside fellow artists such as Styles and Sam Smith in the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) global top 10, while Dua Lipa beat titans including Beyonce and Taylor Swift to become Spotify's most-streamed female artist. Seven years later, the landscape has changed drastically; last year was the first in over 20 years without a UK global top 10 single or album in the charts. 'We are writing collectively as artists, civil society and industry, appealing to your personal belief in music and the promise of opportunity for all under Labour,' Sheeran, citing the recent report, told Starmer in his letter. 'Learning an instrument and getting up on stage – whether in school or a community club – is now a luxury not every child can afford.' He added: 'The time to act is now. State schools – which educate 93 per cent of the country's children – have seen a 21 per cent decrease in music provision.' Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up He cited recent speeches from Brit Award-winning artists Ezra Collective and Myles Smith, who both called for better music funding at the 2025 ceremony this month. 'How many more venues need to close, how many music programs need to be cut before we realise that we can't just celebrate success, we have to protect the foundations that make it?' Smith, who received the Rising Star award, said in his address at London's O2 Arena. Ezra Collective, who in 2023 became the first jazz act to win the Mercury Prize, said: 'This moment right here is because of the great youth clubs, and the great teachers and the great schools that support young people playing music.' Sheeran also referenced culture secretary Lisa Nandy 's 10-point plan for the music industry, which she announced in January while hailing his hometown of Ipswich. She visited the area in Suffolk last year with Sheeran, later describing 'an entire ecosystem through from equipping young people with those skills and that love of music at school, all the way through to being able to perform at smaller live music venues, larger live music venues and get the skills that they need to work in the music industry'. 'That is a model that we would like to replicate around the country,' she said. Sheeran has also called on education secretary Bridget Phillipson, foreign secretary David Lammy, business secretary Jonathan Reynolds and health secretary Wes Streeting to 'stand up for music education'. 'Artists and industry can't deliver on the world stage for the UK without schools, youth clubs and stages at home,' he said. 'Music in and out of school should be for all, not a few.' The letter lays out five key areas for improvement for music in the UK: music funding in schools, training for music teachers, funding for grassroots venues/spaces, music apprenticeships, and a diverse music curriculum. Sheeran is backed by fellow stars including Harry Styles, Elton John, rappers Stormzy, Dave and Central Cee, pop band Coldplay and Annie Lennox. Other co-signers include director Richard Curtis, Sony Music UK chairman and CEO Jason Iley, presenter Dermot O'Leary, and producer Fred Again. The letter comes after the musician launched the Ed Sheeran Foundation in January, a nationwide initiative aimed at providing inclusive, high-quality music education. The musician, who has 14 UK No 1 singles to his name and eight UK No 1 albums, has become known for his charity efforts in recent years, setting up the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation (ESSMF) and donating to his former school, Thomas Mills High School and Sixth Form, in Framlingham.
Reuters
19-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Music revenues rise again in 2024, boosted by streaming subscriptions, report shows
LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) - Subscription streaming boosted global recorded music revenues for a tenth straight year in 2024, by 4.8% to $29.6 billion, an industry group said on Wednesday, while urging policymakers to protect artists from copyright threats by artificial intelligence developers. Subscriber numbers rose 10.6% to 752 million worldwide, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said in its annual Global Music Report. Revenues topped $20 billion for the first time, with paid subscriptions posting 9.5% growth, while advertising-supported formats were up by 1.2%. Performance rights revenues grew 5.9% to $2.9 billion. Revenues for physical formats fell 3.1% to $4.8 billion after a strong 2023. While CD and music video revenues fell, vinyl marked its 18th consecutive year of growth, up 4.6%. "The essential role music plays in so many parts of our lives is evidenced in the continued growth of the global industry," IFPI Chief Executive Victoria Oakley said in a statement. "There is still great potential for further development, through innovation, emerging technologies, and investment in both artists and the evolving parts of the growing global music ecosystem." Revenues rose in all regions, the fastest in the Middle East and North Africa at 22.8%, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa at 22.6% and Latin America at 22.5%. Europe, which accounts for more than a quarter of global recorded music revenues, scored 8.3% growth. Australasia revenues increased by 6.4%. The U.S. and Canada, representing around 40% of global revenues, posted 2.1% growth, while Asia, the third-largest region, chalked up a 1.3% gain. Oakley noted AI's potential to enhance artist creativity and develop new fan experiences, but warned of the dangers of generative AI system developers using copyright-protected music to train their systems without authorisations from rights holders. "We are asking policymakers to protect music and artistry," she said. "We must harness the potential of AI to support and amplify human creativity, not to replace it."
