Digital revenue in 2018 helped the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) achieve a record €9.65 billion in global royalty collections.
On November 7, the organization, which represents 232 music societies in 120 nations (which, in turn, represents over 4 million music artists), released its 2019 Global Collections Report. Jumping out in the report was digital revenue, which skyrocketed 29% to €1.64 billion. The organization attributes this growth to music and video streaming services.
Back in 2014, digital revenue at CISAC was only 7.5% of total collections, but today it represents 17% of collections. Also, the organization noted that — while 3 years ago in none of the top 20 music markets was digital revenue the primary source of collections — today, in 5 of the top 20 markets, it is.
The biggest growth of digital revenue was in the following 6 countries:
- France (+€122 million)
- United States (+€77 million)
- Germany (+€33 million)
- Japan (+€31 million)
- Mexico (+€12 million)
- Canada (+€11 million)
The U.S. accounts for 22.8% of global royalty collections at CISAC. In 2018, collections there rose 2.5% to €1.9 billion.
Total royalty collections at the agency grew modestly in 2018, by 0.9%, while music repertoire collections rose 1.8%.
This represents the 5th consecutive year of growth at the organization. In the last 5 years, total collections have grown 25.4%.
In conjunction with the report, Gadi Oron, who is the director general of CISAC, issued a statement. He said,
“This report provides many reasons for optimism about our sector. Digital revenues show an impressive increase, have nearly tripled in the last five years and have enormous potential for further growth. More markets are seeing digital income taking the top position of all revenue streams, which is an extremely positive sign. In a landscape of fragmenting income sources, the role of authors societies in generating monetary value for millions of creators has never been more vital.”
Jean-Michel Jarre, who is the president of CISAC, added, “Digital is our future and revenues to creators are rising fast, but there is a dark side to digital, and it is caused by a fundamental flaw in the legal environment that continues to devalue creators and their works.”