Music Copyright Market Size, Share, Growth, and Industry Analysis, By Type (Royalty Free (RF) and Rights Managed (RM)), By Downstream Industry (Independent and Majors), and Regional Forecast to 2033

MUSIC COPYRIGHT MARKET OVERVIEW

Music Copyright Market Size was estimated at USD 35063.24 million in 2024 and it is expected to grow from USD 35981.9 million in 2025 to USD 37892.04 million by 2033. The Market CAGR (growth rate) is expected to be around 2.62% during the forecast period (2025 - 2033).

Music copyright refers to the legal protection for the owners of compositions, recordings and performers’ performances. Such protection extends to a variety of objects, with melodies, lyrics, arrangements, and the sound recordings themselves to enable those who create the content to have the ability to determine how that content is sold, copied and disseminated. Copyright laws differ from one country to the other, but basically, they give the author, owner of the certain creation the right to let out the work for licensing, receive royalties for their creation and protect it against unauthorized use or infringement.

It is then equivalently important for music copyright to also work not exclusively to the individual creators but the commerce in the industry in terms of record labels, publishers, and streaming services. As technology enhances and the consumption of music moves more into the digital front then the issue of copyright becomes complex. Questions like piracy, unauthorized sampling, and fair share of royalties have remained one of the challenges of how copyright creators while encouraging the use of music.

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GLOBAL CRISES IMPACTING MUSIC COPYRIGHT MARKET - COVID-19 IMPACT

"Music Copyright Industry Had a Positive Effect Due to Increased Sharing of Music Online during COVID-19 Pandemic"

The Global COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented and staggering, with the market experiencing higher-than-anticipated demand across all regions compared to pre-pandemic levels. The sudden market growth reflected by the rise in CAGR is attributable to the market’s growth and demand returning to pre-pandemic levels.

The breakout of COVID-19 endangered music copyright in various ways, including changing the way music is produced, shared and sold. Due to limited or no live shows for musicians and artists, many were left with no or little source of income thus a shift to use the internet to earn their income. Streaming services were more important than you can imagine, with more online concerts and virtual events launched. Further, the health crisis impacted the application of technology in music making and sharing, as well as increasing home recording as well as remote collaboration. Although this democratization of music production created new possibilities for the new generation artist, it created some problems on the legal front including copyright. The possibility of copyright infringement and piracy grew as more consumers uploaded music to online destinations, explain to key industry constituents and how the definitions of laws governing copyright protection might need to be modified to address them more effectively within an Internet-centric context.

LATEST TREND

"Music Modernization Act to Drive Market Growth"

There have been notable developments in the market which has the potential to boost the Music Copyright Market share. One the provisions of the MMA relates to a better mechanism to increase royalty transparency and equity in order to compensate songwriter for their work. Also for music files, the act tackles the problem of royalty that are unclaimed better than the current situation. This adaptation is a part of a larger realization that copyright laws have to evolve to the new world where streaming is fast becoming the popular mode of consuming music.

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MUSIC COPYRIGHT MARKET SEGMENTATION

BY TYPE

Based on Type, the global market can be categorized into Royalty Free (RF) and Rights Managed (RM).

• Royalty Free (RF): Royalty-free licenses enable the user to make a one time payout for a content which include; music, images or videos to be used without making further payments on each utilization. This model has the advantage of flexibility and cheap price; thus many independent creators and businesses are attracted to this model.

• Rights Managed (RM): Rights-managed licensing allows the user to have to transact and buy the licensing agreement on the use of material depending on such factors as the time, geographical area of use, and projects among other conditions. It makes certain that one is not taken advantage of and they have to struggle sharing their work on social media while someone else benefit by making money out of it.

BY APPLICATION

Based on application, the global market can be categorized into Independent and Majors.

• Independent (Indie) Labels: Indie labels are the small label companies that don’t have access to huge funds that are provided by a big music company. They mainly concern themselves with specific categories of artists or products and this brings about flexibility when defining an artist’s career. Independent companies concentrate more on development of artists and regard a long-term partnership with musicians as a valuable result.

• Major Labels: Major labels are big record companies that have been in the industry for a long time and hold great power most of them are endowed with huge powers in advertisement, distribution, and publicity. They approach a portfolio of musicians and producers; they usually impact on the mainstream music and market majorly.

MARKET DYNAMICS

DRIVING FACTORS

"Digital Streaming Growth to Boost the Market"

There are several elements inspiring the Music Copyright Market growth. The general availability of music streaming services has changed the way songs and albums are listened to, which demands improved concepts of licensing, particularly for the copyrights, so that performers would be paid a fair amount. Technologies in music production and distribution have advancement enables music creators and distributers to produce and distribute music causing a high possibility of piracy and therefore the need for proper copyrights models to protect the creators.

"Globalization of Music to Expand the Market"

With music globalizing, there is need to approach international markets and another system of law and hence the need to warrant copy rights for international use as well as other legal frameworks that allow for licensing. Social networks like TikTok and Instagram with their content generating and sharing in which many pieces use copyrighted music have created the demand for transparent guidelines and licensing plans for artists to fight unauthorized use of their work while keeping creative usage of the work possible.

RESTRAINING FACTOR

"Infringement and Piracy to Potentially Impede Market Growth"

The phenomenon of sharing enables different unauthorized individuals to download music without having to pay the artists or the holders of the rights for their work. Piracy affects industry financially as many firms lose lots of monies through piracy hence damaging the public’s confidence in the copyright system. Still, it is a concern of many artists, especially independent ones, charges that they are not paid fairly by the streaming service and other similar digital services. Royalty structures that are currently in use today are Still, they may not guarantee small artists much earnings since they are tilted towards the owners of large rights.

OPPORTUNITY

"Advancement of Blockchain Technology to Create Opportunity for the Product in the Market"

As such, artists are able to integrate decentralized ledgers into a clear and efficient system for documenting the utilization of the music they create without fear of having their work stolen, and without worrying that they are not getting paid their due for each and every stream or download. Applying smart contract can automate payment of royalties, thus free the process of many legal issues concerning right and usage. It could potentially help independent artists, whom this centralized business devalues, to take a higher percentage of control over their pieces, establishing direct transactions with the consumers which could mean a higher revenue for them. On the same note, the industry is adopting these technologies and this opens up opportunities for more just distribution of the royalties and better licensing.

CHALLENGE

"Struggle to Combat Piracy Could Be a Potential Challenge for Consumers"

So when music is being shared over posts and with permission, user generated content platforms make it easier to copy music thereby increasing chances of copyrights infringement. Sanctions are still not sufficiently established and therefore actual defense of artists’ rights remains challenging. However, with the help of artificial i ntelligence technology when one can generate or mimic music, it comes with it a contentious issue of copyright laws. It goes without saying that the solution to these issues will be one of the key challenges for protecting creators’ intellectual property in order to maintain the sustainability of the music industry going forward.

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MUSIC COPYRIGHT MARKET REGIONAL INSIGHTS

NORTH AMERICA

North America is the fastest-growing region in this market. The United States Music Copyright Market has been growing exponentially owing to multiple reasons. The new Music Modernization Act has brought its changes focusing on royalty distributions and clarity for songwriters and musicians. Besides, there is a growing demand for licensing and equity compensation has emerge as an influential point of concern within the modern context, consequently influencing discourses on licensing practices with specific reference to contents generated by users on social media. Meanwhile other technologies like blockchain are being invented to improve rights management and the tracking of music usage.

EUROPE

Currently, European music copyrights are marked by rather strict rules oriented on the protection of the artists’ rights and the proper remuneration. The EU’s Digital Single Market is constantly bringing copyright laws amongst its members closer to a unified system that promotes licensing across the union while offering better access to music. Furthermore, actions such as the EU’s European Commission Copyright Directive are meant to respond to the difficulties introduced by the platforms and increase the defense of authors. Further, there was increased pressure towards green practices in the industry, plus equal remunerations for the artists.

ASIA

In the Asia-Pacific region, the musical copyright arises on the background of the advancement of digitization and a growing number of the middle class who have access to music. Japan and South Korea are already pioneers in implementing new kinds of licensing models, while new developed markets face the problem of enforcement against piracy. It can be stated that more attention is being paid to the protection of every inventor’s rights to work and creation, which in its turn leads to the increased legislative support of the governmental institutions in the sphere of copyright and accumulation of the resources aimed at the promotion of awareness of creators in question.

KEY INDUSTRY PLAYERS

"Key Industry Players Shaping the Market Through Innovation and Market Expansion"

Key industry players are shaping the Music Copyright Marketplace through strategic innovation and market expansion. These companies are introducing advanced techniques and processes to improve the quality and performance of their offerings. They are also expanding their product lines to include specialized variations, catering to diverse customer preferences. Additionally, they are leveraging digital platforms to increase market reach and enhance distribution efficiency. By investing in research and development, optimizing supply chain operations, and exploring new regional markets, these players are driving growth and setting trends within the music copyright.

LIST OF TOP MUSIC COPYRIGHT COMPANIES

• Audio Network Ltd [U.K.]
• Pond5 Inc [U.K.]
• Getty Images Inc [U.K.]
• Shutterstock Inc. [U.K.]
• The Music Bed LLC [U.K.]

KEY INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT

March 2024: SoundExchange took significant strives ahead in the Music Copyright Marketplace. They recently developed SoundExchange Royalties Distribution Platform. This platform helps in improving the efficacy and increase in transparency by presenting reports of royalty receipts from different streaming sites and radio stations. Through the means of a subsequent scaled-up data analysis, SoundExchange has strived to improve payment transparency and optimize royalty distribution for artists who have suffered from its lack of scrutiny in the face of new musical formats and services.

REPORT COVERAGE

SWOT analysis is presented in this work at a high level, and helpful recommendations regarding further evolvement of the market are considered. This paper takes an opportunity to review and discuss the market segments and possible applications that have the potential to influence the market growth in the future years. The work uses both, the data regarding the modern state of the market and the information on its evolution to identify the possible development trends.

The music copyright with better portability is expected to gain high growth rates due to better consumer adoption trends, increasing application areas, and more innovative product developments. Yet, there might be some problems like, for instance, the shortage of raw materials or higher prices for them However, the growing popularity of specialized offerings and tendencies towards enhancing quality foster the growth of the market. All of them are progressing through technology and innovative strategies in developments as well as in supply chain and market. Due to changes in the market environment and growing demand for variety, the music copyright has a promising development since it constantly develops and expands its application.