Report: Africa sees fastest growth as global music revenue increases by 10.2%

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) says global recorded music revenue increased by 10.2 percent in 2023, with sub-Saharan Africa seeing the fastest growth.

The IFPI represents the interest of the recording industry worldwide.

The organisation released its 2024 report on Thursday, covering the global music industry dynamics of 2023.

IFPI report said total trade revenues reached $28.6 billion in 2023 — the ninth consecutive year of growth.

For comparison, trade revenues for 2022 based on the IFPI data amounted to $26.2 billion.

Streaming revenue, the organisation said, accounted for the majority of revenue growth and total share of the market.

The IFPI also reported that subscription streaming revenues grew by 11.2 percent, constituting almost half (48.9 percent) of the global market.

The organisation said the number of paid subscriptions to music streaming services in 2023, exceeded 500 million for the first time.

According to the group, there are now over 667 million subscribers, with household penetration varying greatly by country.

The report said sub-Saharan Africa had the fastest revenue growth of all the seven regions captured and was the only one to surpass 20 percent growth.

The IFPI’s report stated that recorded music revenues in sub-Saharan Africa climbed by 24.7 percent.

The union said the uptick was fuelled by a +24.5 percent increase in paid streaming revenues, with South Africa contributing 77 percent.

According to the document, a 7.4 percent gain in 2023 in the USA and Canada, represented the greatest share of global recorded music revenues (40.9 percent).

The IFPI said revenues from the US, the world’s largest recorded music market, rose by 7.2 percent while Canada jumped by 12.2 percent as a market in the top 10.

Europe accounted for more than a quarter of global revenues (28.1 percent) after a revenue growth of 8.9 percent, the report said, noting that it remained the second-largest region in the world for recorded music revenues in 2023.

The report also said the region’s three biggest markets — the UK (+8.1 percent), Germany (+7.0 percent), and France (+4.4 percent) — all recorded healthy revenue growths.

As the third largest globally, revenues in Asia rose by 14.9 percent in 2023, driven by strong gains in physical and digital sales, the IFPI said.

These three regions, the group noted, are followed by Latin America at +19.4 percent, Australasia at +10.8 percent, Middle East and North Africa at +14.4 percent, and sub-Saharan Africa at +24.7 percent.