CONTENTS
1 FOREWORD
2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ABOUT THE INDEPENDENT MUSIC PUBLISHERS
3 INTERNATIONAL FORUM
MARKET ANALYSIS
4 THE ROLE OF MUSIC PUBLISHERS
THE KEY PLAYERS IN THE MUSIC PUBLISHING ECOSYSTEM
THE VARIOUS TYPES OF PUBLISHERS
MUSIC PUBLISHERS’ STREAMS OF REVENUES
MARKET SHARE OF MUSIC PUBLISHERS
VALUE OF PUBLISHING IN THE MUSIC RIGHTS ECOSYSTEM
THE SHARE AND VALUE OF INDEPENDENT MUSIC
PUBLISHING
THE CASE OF FRANCE
KEY ISSUES FACING PUBLISHERS
5 FULL RECOVERY IS NOT THERE YET
THE IMPACT OF THE MECHANICAL LICENSING COLLECTIVE
ON MECHANICAL RIGHTS
IMBALANCE IN THE SPLIT OF REVENUES
6 METHODOLOGY
7 FINANCIAL SPONSORS OF THE REPORT
8 MEMBERS OF IMPF
9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1
1. Foreword
This is the third Global Market View published main beneficiaries of the rise in revenues
by the Independent Music Publishers from streaming — in percentage of revenue
International Forum (IMPF), providing — compared to labels, the maths may be
data about the global market value of thecorrect but the baseline is very low.
independent music sector.
It has become hard to argue against the
The music publishing business is the idea that songwriters and publishers were
business of compositions, and of the people handed the wrong side of the deal.
behind this business — songwriters, lyricists,
composers, producers and, of course, music There is no reason why the combination
publishers.publisher/songwriter should be paid less
than the combo label/performers. And a
In short, it is the business of songs. Without rebalancing of the revenue split is long
songwriters and composers and theiroverdue.
creations there would be no music industry.
Yet, the intrinsic value of this businessIn the absence of a global entity collecting
remains under-estimated. data from the various segments of this
industry in general — and the lack of global
The current economic model, dominated data on music publishing, in particular —
by the rise of streaming, works in favourthis study’s ambition is to show as much
of performers and recordings. The ratio of as possible the true value of the global
streaming revenues split between recording publishing sector and also highlight some
and publishing is basically one to five.local and regional specificities of some
markets.
In other words, when one euro or dollar is
paid to rights holders by streaming services, What this report also shows is the strength
performers and labels take a hefty 80% while and value of independent music publishers,
songwriters and publishers split among who are mapping the world and are crucial
themselves the remaining 20%.partners of the songwriter community in
every single country around the globe.
The fact that many debates around the
world have focused on the need for a fairer The data covers the year 2021, reflecting
and better remuneration of songwriters isthe way the music publishing business
a direct consequence of this imbalance. functions, with a time delay linked to the
While some studies, such as the United process by which royalties are collected and
Kingdom Parliament’s Digital, Culture, Media distributed in the world. They inform about
and Sport (DCMS) Committee have shown a music sector moving out of the COVID-19
that publishers and songwriters are the pandemic. 2
As a testimony to the resilience of the There are, of course, a few clouds on the
sector, music publishers have continued to horizon:
sign new songwriters, collect, and distribute
royalties, grant synch licences and buildo The risks of a slower economy and the
their businesses. impact of inflation, which could affect
the bottom line and the margins of music
Several factors will contribute to a stronger publishers
music publishing business in the coming o A slowing down of streaming adoption
years: in the most mature markets, not yet
compensated by growth in new, emerging
o The recovery of the public performance markets
segment, with advertising back to
o Adverse copyright legislation, lowering the
pre-COVID levels
protection of music works, or dismantling
o The live music sector is back in full swing schemes such as private copying, which
as documented by the volume of concerts usually benefit the creative sector
taking place around the world
o The rise of unlicensed platforms, preferring
o Film and TV production has resumed,to launch and operate without properly
and the sync business is back to compensating rights holders
pre-pandemic levels, while global video
streaming services continue to expand
o Favourable legislation in the United States,
in particular, will see a significant increase
in royalties paid to music publishers and
songwriters from mechanical rights
Annette Barrett, Reservoir Music, and President of IMPF: “Independent music publishers
are a vital creative force in the modern music business. They are also an economic
force, as this report shows, accounting for over a quarter of the global publishing market.
Collectively, independent publishers are the premiere publishing entity in the world, ahead
of the largest major company. This is a tribute to the many entrepreneurs in each country
who develop songwriters and composers, and make sure they get proper remuneration
for their music.”
Aman Khullar, General Counsel, Musixmatch: “Musixmatch is proud to sponsor this third
edition of the ‘IMPF Global Market View of Independent Music Publishing’. Together with our
publisher partners we have worked for more than 12 years to nurture and grow the digital
lyrics market — a way to earn royalties from existing rights that are now an intrinsic part
of every music DSP product. We are particularly excited by the continued growth of the
independent publisher community, and we look forward to working with our partners on
growing the lyrics market and developing new products. Working with the IMPF we know
that independents have a strong and committed advocate for their rights as well as a
forum to discuss and share ideas about the future of the music industry.” 3
2. Executive summary
The music publishing market is dominated by the affiliates of major music companies —
Sony Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group and Warner Chappell Music — that
accounted in 2021 for 59.9% of the global publishing market, according to estimates from
Music & Copyright.
Of the remaining 40.1%, two companies — Kobalt and BMG — accounted for 6.8% and
6.2% respectively, which would put the independent music publishing sector (defined as
companies with a global market share of 5% or below), taken collectively, at 27.1% of the
total market.
Such a combined market share would qualify the independent music publishing sector as
a collective entity with a market share higher than that of the largest music publisher in the
world (Sony Music Publishing).
Music publishing is a key component of the music rights ecosystem. Alongside recorded
music rights, centred around sound recordings, publishing rights, attached to music works,
is the business of the underlined compositions used for sound recordings.
Publishers’ revenues rely on multiple flows of royalties, some of which are negotiated directly
by the publisher (synchronisation rights), and others through the collective management
system (mostly performance rights and mechanical rights).