{"id":233940,"date":"2025-06-12T19:11:32","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T18:11:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=233940"},"modified":"2025-06-17T22:41:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T21:41:07","slug":"us-music-publishing-revenue-jumped-13-4-to-7bn-in-2024-outpacing-the-growth-of-rate-of-recorded-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/us-music-publishing-revenue-jumped-13-4-to-7bn-in-2024-outpacing-the-growth-of-rate-of-recorded-music\/","title":{"rendered":"US music publishing revenue jumped 13.4% to $7bn in 2024, outpacing the growth rate of recorded music"},"content":{"rendered":"MBW\u2019s Stat Of The Week is a series in which we highlight a data point that deserves the attention of the global music industry. Stat Of the Week is supported by\u00a0music data analytics firm\u00a0Chartmetric<\/a>.\r\n\r\n
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Given the lacklustre growth in US recorded music revenues last year, it wouldn\u2019t have been a surprise if music publishing revenues also showed signs of weakening.<\/p>\n

But that hasn\u2019t happened. New numbers from the National Music Publishers Association<\/strong> (NMPA<\/strong>) show that publishing revenue growth actually accelerated<\/em> in 2024, compared to the year before, rising 13.41%<\/strong><\/span> to $7.039 billion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That marks a notable increase from the 10.7%<\/strong> growth rate seen in 2023<\/a>, and it marks the 10th consecutive year of double-digit music publishing revenue growth in the US, NMPA President and CEO David Israelite<\/strong> told the audience at the trade organization\u2019s annual general meeting on Wednesday (June 11).<\/p>\n

\u201cTo put that in perspective, consider this: Just 10 years ago, the recorded music industry was 220% larger than the music publishing industry. Today, it’s just 60% larger,\u201d Israelite said.<\/p>\n

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According to the Recording Industry Association of America<\/strong> (RIAA<\/strong>), recorded music wholesale revenues rose 2.7% YoY<\/strong><\/span> in 2024<\/a>, to $11.3 billion<\/strong> \u2013 a growth rate that was actually lower than the US\u2019s inflation rate of 2.9%<\/strong> for 2024 \u2013 pulled down by declining advertising payouts. Music publishing\u2019s growth rate just about quintupled the growth in recorded music.<\/p>\n

(The wholesale figure for recorded music \u2013 that is, the money that actually ended up with artists, labels, and distributors \u2013 is lower than the headline $17.67 billion<\/strong> that RIAA reported, but it\u2019s the appropriate comparison to the NMPA\u2019s music publishing numbers, as the NMPA reports wholesale publishing revenues.)<\/p>\n

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So what\u2019s behind publishing\u2019s banner year? Israelite pointed to one key factor: Accelerated efforts at collecting unpaid royalties.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust last year, 27% of the total revenue paid to songwriters and music publishers came from sources that originally claimed they did not have to license or pay for songs,\u201d Israelite said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fought, we won, and now nearly $2 billion of our revenue last year came from these sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The double-digit growth came despite a hit to publishers\u2019 and songwriters\u2019 mechanical royalty revenue when Spotify<\/strong> last year reclassified<\/a> its paid US music subscriptions as \u201cbundles\u201d with audiobooks.<\/p>\n

The streaming giant took advantage of a rule in the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB)\u2019s Phonorecords IV<\/strong> regulations that allows digital service providers to pay out a lower mechanical royalty rate from bundled subscriptions than they would from a standalone music subscription. Amazon Music<\/strong> followed suit, shifting its own paying music subscriber base to a bundled service.<\/p>\n

NMPA Executive Vice President and General Counsel Danielle Aguirre<\/strong> said<\/a> Spotify\u2019s move resulted in a loss of $230 million<\/strong> in mechanical royalties in its first year, and could end up costing $3.1 billion<\/strong> by 2032.<\/p>\n

That assumes the bundling rule won\u2019t be removed in the CRB\u2019s next rate regulation, Phonorecords V<\/strong>, which has yet to be negotiated and will set mechanical royalty rates for the 2028-2032 period.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis incredible [revenue] growth story is in spite of the fact that 72% of our revenue is under oppressive government price controls which have denied songwriters and music publishers the true value of their intellectual property.”<\/p>\n

David Israelite, NMPA<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the wake of Spotify\u2019s move, the NMPA has been calling on Congress<\/a> to let music publishers opt out of the Copyright Royalty Board\u2019s mandatory mechanism, and negotiate royalty rates with streaming services \u201cin a free market.\u201d<\/p>\n

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At the annual general meeting on Wednesday, Israelite renewed his call for a loosening of the regulations that govern music publishing royalties in the US.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis incredible [revenue] growth story is in spite of the fact that 72% of our revenue is under oppressive government price controls which have denied songwriters and music publishers the true value of their intellectual property,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As a potential remedy, Israelite urged collective action \u2013 not in the sense of songwriters unionizing, but in the sense of rights holders sticking together when negotiating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen GMR stands up to the bullies of big radio, we should all stand behind them. When CSAC fights for better rates from Google \u2013 one of the largest companies in the history of the planet \u2013 we should all stand behind them.<\/p>\n

“And while ASCAP and BMI don’t have the power to say no under their consent decrees when they go to rate court to fight for better rates from broadcast radio or satellite radio or live music venues, we should all stand behind them as we continue the fight to get more of your rights in a free market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in songwriter income if we all stand together, and all of us need to do a better job articulating why we are in these disputes, so that songwriters are armed with the information they need to help themselves\u2026 The rates achieved where we are in a free market have a ripple effect on those rates under government control.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/figure>Chartmetric<\/a> is the all-in-one platform for artists and music industry professionals, providing comprehensive streaming, social, and audience data for everyone to create successful careers in music.<\/em><\/span><\/strong>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recovered unpaid royalties accounted for 27% of music publishing revenues last year, the NMPA’s David Israelite said<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":197452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[133486,2142,134315,2141,124425],"class_list":["post-233940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-133486","tag-david-israelite","tag-music-publishing-revenue","tag-nmpa","tag-stat-of-the-week"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}