Global royalty collections for creators increased by 7.6% to reach a new high of €13.1 billion last year, according to the 2024 Global Collections Report published by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC).

The increase was partly attributed to the “strong” post-pandemic resurgence of live concerts and public performance, as well as a steady upturn in digital income.

Live and public performance collections – which includes concerts, exhibitions and licensing of venues and businesses – posted the strongest growth of any segment, growing by 22% to an all-time high of €3.3bn.

According to a sample of over 100 music societies, collections from live concerts and festivals grew 36.5%, while public performance licensing revenue was up 10.9%.

The income stream accounted for 25% of total collections, behind digital (35%) and broadcast (30%), and is up 12.6% on pre-Covid levels. The Latin American market was a key driver overall, showcasing huge growth of 114.6% over the past two years.

CISAC director general Gadi Oron says the figures paint a positive picture of a “healthy, stable and promising sector”.

“Overall, collections on behalf of creators reached a new all-time high of €13.1bn, an impressive 7.6% increase,” says Oron. “This, in itself, is a major achievement and shows the strength of the collective management system.”

“Support from governments to protect the live sector has never been more important”

Furthermore, the report reveals that royalties derived solely from live music have increased by 24% since 2019 to €1.03bn.

“The live and public performance income stream bounced back buoyantly,” notes Oron. “For the first time, the amounts collected by CISAC societies for background music, live concerts, exhibitions and entertainment, exceeded their 2019 pre-Covid level reaching €3.28bn, fuelled by the growing number of live concerts and tours around the world.”

However, Oron issues a warning over the continuing struggles of the grassroots scene.

“Yet, despite this success, the sector is fragmented and in many areas, fragile,” he says. “At the grassroots level, venues are closing and local events struggling. Support from governments to protect the live sector has never been more important.”

CISAC board chair Marcelo Castello Branco adds: “This 2024 CISAC Global Collections Report shows a successful performance by the CISAC global network, and we should take a moment to celebrate our achievements. However, it is essential that we elevate our ambitions further. We have to firmly reject the notion that creation – whether in music, audiovisual, visual arts, literature, or drama – is merely a commodity or a tool in the attention economy.

“Our market environment is full of uncertainties, and while we take pride in present growth, our priority now needs to be long-term sustainable growth to ensure the livelihoods of the creators we represent.”

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Former Spotify and PRS for Music economist Will Page has offered a stirring forecast for the live music business after revealing the global value of music copyright topped $40 billion (€37bn) for the first time last year.

Page calculated the all-encompassing figure of £41.5bn – up 14% on 2021 – as part of an annual report published on his Pivotal Economics platform. His research involves consolidating three sources of industry analysis – the IFPI’s Global Music Report, CISAC’s Global Collections Report, and Music & Copyright’s analysis of music publishing.

Royalties from live and public performance rose 69.9% to €2.7bn in 2022, prompting CISAC president and ABBA member Björn Ulvaeus to declare that live music has “surged back”.

“The CISAC network is once again throbbing with concerts, exhibitions and festivals, and the royalties they generate to help creators make a livelihood,” he said.

The CISAC report noted, however, that the sector fell short of a full recovery – remaining 7.9% below its pre-pandemic level as local events and smaller venues struggled to match the recovery in international tours and big festivals. Just this week the Music Venue Trust said it was lobbying the UK government for a compulsory £1 levy on tickets sold for live music events above 5,000 capacity after grassroots venue Moles in Bath was forced to shut down this week, while organisers of independent festival Nozstock The Hidden Valley have announced its 2024 edition, set for 18-21 July, will be its last.

Page previously reported that UK music fans spent £2.1 billion (€2.4bn) on gig tickets last year, with UK stadiums and festivals now making up half of all box office spend, compared to 40% in 2019 and just 23% in 2012.

“Live music prices in experiences that can’t be purchased anywhere else”

“If we step back from the detail, I think it’s fair to say part of the bounce back is the bottlenecks of the pandemic unravelling and part is this new phenomena of stadiums and festivals increasing frequency, ticket prices and demand,” he tells IQ.

“Live music is going to get bigger, for longer. Rolling all this back up to the $41.5bn figure, which is just copyright (i.e. not the gross but the declarations to the PROs), and it’s striking to see that performing rights income exceeded that for labels’ digital income.”

Though Page acknowledges that concerts have “bounced back beyond anyone’s expectations” from the pandemic, he is confident the level of growth is sustainable.

“It’s very sustainable, because the promoters have learned that the experience economy is a ‘merit good’ – increasing the quality of the experience increases the perceived value which allows prices to rise and demand to rise with it,” he says. “Be it investment in huge ‘jumbotron’ screens or small LED bracelets, these are all producing memories that make people want more. Sure, I’ve seen Coldplay perform in the Bull & Gate in Kentish Town in the 90s, but seeing 80,000 yellow bracelets light up in Wembley was worth every penny, and I want to do it again. Live music prices in experiences that can’t be purchased anywhere else.”

Page admits to being surprised at the sheer scale of the increase since he started crunching the numbers in 2015, when copyright revenues stood at just $24.37bn.

“It speaks volumes for our industry that we’re no longer the ‘sick cousin’ of all the media verticals,” he says. Now, what happens when we add on top the gross box office – which is not copyright – to this number? If I do some rough maths in my head, are we looking at a business that’s worth $75bn? If so, that moves us to eye level with the streamers like Netflix et al. That’s what I want IQ readers to take away from this work – to stand up a little taller when discussing the industry we all work in.”

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Global royalty collections for creators reached a historical high of €12.1 billion in 2022, growing by a record 26.7% in a full recovery from the pandemic, according to the latest report by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC).

Royalties from the live and public performance sector, including concerts, background, exhibitions, and theatres, increased 69.9% to €2.7bn in 2022 as festivals, music tours and businesses reopened.

Despite this, CISAC says the live sector’s return to health fell short of complete recovery, remaining 7.9% below the pre-pandemic level of 2019.

The majority of the growth was in Europe, where royalties increased by more than three-quarters of a billion euros, while collections in Latin America more than tripled, underscoring the importance of that market to the music industry.

“This is a remarkable return to growth as our whole sector fully recovers from the disastrous three-year pandemic”

The confederation says that although live and public performance collections rose by nearly 70% in 2022, they still remain 7.9% below the 2019 figure. Virtually all CISAC’s collection society members reported sharp increases in all 2022 events generating live collections, from concerts and festivals to theatre plays and exhibitions.

The live music sector, slower to recover than public performance, bounced back sharply, with data from a sample of 116 CISAC member societies showing that live music royalties rose 185.7%, while background music was up only 34%.

The rate of recovery in live and background also varied by geography. Collections in Latin America and the Caribbean rebounded very strongly in 2022. This region had the highest growth rate of 218.9% but remained 16% short of pre-pandemic levels. Elsewhere, public performance revenues continued to suffer in some countries from the enduring damage caused by the pandemic. For example, AEI-Guatemala reported that 48% of all bars and restaurants have not reopened after the lifting of Covid restrictions.

In 2023, CISAC notes, live entertainment has continued to rebound after three years of pent-up demand. “Live and background royalties appear on course for further sharp growth, recovering well beyond pre-pandemic levels for the first time,” it states in its annual report.

However, CISAC warns its members that there are still some concerns that this bubble will burst after 2023 due to consumer spending cuts and constraints on artists’ touring budgets.

“Streaming and subscription have not just revived the status quo, they have transformed the market, changed the game for creators and paved the way for future growth”

Overall, collections are now 19.8% higher than their pre-pandemic level, driven by continued strong growth in digital income and the recovery in live and public performance contributions.

Digital collections, boosted by continued growth of streaming and subscription, rose to €4.2bn, and is now, for the first time, creators’ biggest income stream, overtaking TV and radio, with 35% of total collections.

In a significant rebalancing of income streams since the start of the pandemic, digital collections are up 100%, TV and radio up 4.6% and live and public performance down 7.9% on their pre-Covid levels of 2019.

All regions and all repertoires saw collections growth in 2022. Music collections, the largest segment, rose a record 28% to €10.8 billion, 21.4% up on 2019.

“[AI] demands international leadership and a strong united front from all parts of the creative industry”.

Commenting on the report, CISAC director general Gadi Oron says, “This is a remarkable return to growth as our whole sector fully recovers from the disastrous three-year pandemic. While live and public performance have bounced back strongly, the recovery is driven most of all by digital which has now become creators’ largest source of income. Streaming and subscription have not just revived the status quo, they have transformed the market, changed the game for creators and paved the way for future growth.”

Meanwhile, CISAC president Björn Ulvaeus takes the opportunity to voice concerns about the future impact of AI on creators’ collections, stating, “CMOs have the backs of the creators they serve and are now delivering more money to more creators than ever before. And that is good news – because, fresh from Covid and the economic squeeze, what we now face is another very serious, existential challenge – that of artificial intelligence. AI will radically change the world for creators and the creative industry. It demands international leadership and a strong united front from all parts of the creative industry.”

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Music collections grew almost 2% in 2018, generating €8.5 billion, with the growth of live/background music royalties surpassing that of frontrunner TV/radio.

The most recent figures released by Cisac, the association that represents global copyright collection societies, show the traditional revenue streams of TV, radio, live and background music – that played in restaurants, bars and clubs – “continue to be the backbone of royalties collections”, despite the “mass migration to digital channels” in recent years.

In Cisac’s Global Collections Report 2019, which documents overall royalties collected in the areas of music, audiovisual, visual arts, drama and literature, the association’s director general, Gadi Oron, puts “comparatively modest” growth down to the “devaluing effect of the exceptionally strong euro”.

Revenue from live and background music combined has grown 0.8% from 2017 to €2.6bn, while TV and radio has seen a decline of 3.1%, generating €3.3bn.

In conjunction with TV/radio’s decline, live/background royalty collections surpass that of broadcast in Italy and Chile. Live and background royalties reach €322 million in Italy (-0.9% year-on-year) and CLP10,960m, or €13.43m, in Chile (+8.4% YOY).

“The large traditional revenue streams continue to be the backbone of royalties collections”

Europe remains the largest region for collections, generating over 50% of global music revenues. According to the report, the live music sector “continues to grow healthily across Europe, with strong demand for concerts and festivals.” Live/background collections lead the way in Europe, rising 1.4% in 2018 to €1.7bn, and by 11% over the past five years.

Live collections are also up in Asia-Pacific by 3.1% to €306m and 2.2% in Canada/USA to €345m. Elsewhere, royalties are down -0.9% in Africa (17m) and 9.5% to €194m in Latin America and the Caribbean, where live music still remains the leading source of collections.

Digital is where Cisac president Jean-Michael Jarre sees the “future”, with increasing subscription revenues driving growth of 185% over the past five years.

“More than ever, societies are working in a landscape of fragmenting income sources,” writes Oron. “This calls for more versatility: protecting the large traditional collections streams of live, background and broadcast, while striking new deals to monetise creators’ works on YouTube, Facebook and other digital platforms. The role of authors’ societies in generating monetary value for millions of creators has never been more vital.”

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Spanish collection society SGAE (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores) has postponed its general assembly – due to take place in October – to January 2020, when a number of current members will have departed from the society.

Members of the controversial SGAE, which was expelled from international authors’ rights association Cisac in May, were due to vote on statute reforms at the assembly on 15 October.

The society has failed to obtain a member majority on changes to statutes on three separate occasions. The reforms are necessary in order for the society to comply with European Union intellectual property law and with demands made by Cisac and Spanish Minister of Culture, José Guirao.

The decision to postpone the vote comes after members including Julio Iglesias, José Luis Perales, Iván Ferreiro, Ramón Arcusa (Dúo Dinámico) and Jorge Ilegal asked to terminate their membership to the society. By moving the vote to January, the departing members will no longer be able to participate.

“SGAE is postponing its assembly to 2020 to guarantee legal certainty following the request from the Ministry of Culture,” reads a post on the society’s Facebook page.

“SGAE is postponing its assembly to 2020 to guarantee legal certainty following the request from the Ministry of Culture”

The Ministry of Culture had demanded that SGAE “respect” members that wanted to leave, after various members, including Southern Music Española SL, Peermusic and Lugar Music, complained that the society had attempted to limit their right to vote after they announced their intention to leave.

However, according to the society, the Ministry of Culture had also demanded it implement article 27 of it current statutes, “under which asking to leave SGAE constitutes the loss of the right to vote in the general assembly.”

According to the SGAE, the Ministry of Culture has created a “legal paradox”. By moving the assembly to 2020, reads the society’s statement, any doubts relating to legal rights, are dissipated.

SGAE is no stranger to controversy. The society recently received a €2.95 million fine for anti-competitive practices by the Spanish competition regulator and has been linked to a scandal known as ‘the wheel’ (la rueda).

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Spanish collection society, Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE), is facing increased pressure from the government and international author’s rights association Cisac, after failing to make reforms to its statutes.

The beleaguered collection society lacked member votes to implement reform at its General Assembly in Madrid on Monday (24 June). 62.8% of members voted in favour of the changes proposed by SGAE president Pilar Jurado, 4% short of the two-thirds majority required.

Of the 18,000 eligible members, only 1,356 participated in the vote.

Changes to the society’s statutes are necessary in order to comply with current European Union intellectual property law. In the run up to the vote, Jurado stressed that the society was facing its “last opportunity” and that failure to comply with the changes would be “terrible for creators”.

In failing to reform the collection society has also failed to meet the demands of Spanish Minister of Culture José Guirao and the International Confederation of Authors’ Societies

In failing to reform – for the third time – the collection society has also failed to meet the demands of Spanish Minister of Culture José Guirao and the International Confederation of Authors’ Societies (Cisac).

Last week, the National Assembly rejected Guirao’s call for governmental intervention in light of SGAE’s upcoming General Assembly. Following the decision, Guirao stated that failure to pass the reforms would leave “no other option other than to strip SGAE of its authority.”

In May, Cisac temporarily expelled SGAE as a member, due to the society’s failure to convince the body of its commitment to reform. The sanction, which “can be lifted or adjusted at any time” provided positive change is made, remains in place.

Earlier this month, the society received two fines from the Spanish competition regulator, one of €3.1m in relation to “abusive” 10% concert tariffs, and the other of €2.95 for anti-competitive conduct.

SGAE has been embroiled in controversy surrounding a scandal known as ‘the wheel’ (la rueda) since 2017.

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The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (Cisac) has voted to expel Spanish society SGAE for a one-year period, following the society’s failure to convince the body of its “commitment to reform”.

The decision to expel SGAE, known as the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores, was made at Cisac’s annual assembly in Tokyo. The expulsion follows Cisac’s resolution to undertake a sanctions process against SGAE in December, “in view of the society’s breaches of Cisac rules”.

The expulsion is set to last for one year but “can be adjusted or lifted at any time”, provided that the Cisac board of directors concludes that SGAE has made sufficient progress towards implementing its requirements. Cisac recommended a series of changes to its rogue Spanish member following an in-depth investigation which concluded in May last year.

“Today’s vote to proceed with the sanction of a one-year expulsion follows an in-depth analysis of recent reforms set in motion by SGAE’s new President, Ms Pilar Jurado,” reads a Cisac statement.

“Further important technical work and changes are needed and expected by CISAC to ensure SGAE’s compliance with the Confederation’s professional rules”

“While a number of welcome changes have been proposed, they have not yet been approved by the SGAE General Assembly. Further important technical work and changes are needed and expected by CISAC to ensure SGAE’s compliance with the Confederation’s professional rules for member societies.”

SGAE appointed Spanish soprano singer Pilar Jurado as president in February following a vote of no confidence against former chief José Ángel Hevia, who held the position for just three months.

Jurado states that “Cisac is giving SGAE the opportunity to decide its own future”, and called on members to support her proposed reforms in the General Assembly in order for the society “to leave this situation behind us”.

Earlier this week, minister of culture José Guirao demanded SGAE produce a detailed outline of the steps it would take to comply with regulations. Failure to do so would result in intervention from the court.

SGAE has been at the centre of a scandal known as the wheel, or ‘la rueda’, for a number of years. The scam, which saw SGAE members and TV execs create “low-quality music” to broadcast on late-night TV, allegedly brought in several millions in performance royalties over the years.

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India’s performance rights organisation, the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS), has been readmitted to international authors’ rights association Cisac as an associate member after two years of reform.

IPRS was temporarily expelled from Cisac (International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) in 2016 after a compliance review found “serious shortcomings and lack of compliance with Cisac’s rules”, according to the organisation, which represents 239 collection societies and performing rights organisations in 122 countries.

That decision, taken by Cisac’s board and general assembly, has now been reversed following “major reforms” in corporate governance, transparency, licensing, collections and distribution of royalties.

The society has also been re-granted registration under India’s copyright law by the Indian government.

“We are delighted to have IPRS back in our global network, following extensive reforms”

Cisac director-general Gadi Oron says: “India is an important market with a huge potential for creators and the creative industries. We are delighted to have IPRS back in our global network, following extensive reforms conducted at the society with Cisac’s support and guidance.

“Cisac’s best practice rules ensure high standards and mutual trust among our member societies and, as the India case shows, they also act as a lever for positive reforms where needed.”

“This homecoming is the occasion to acknowledge the decisive support received from the government of India when all hope was lost, as well as the unsparing assistance from and support of Cisac towards transparency and a compliant IPRS, for which the creative community will be forever grateful,” adds IPRS chairman, and former Cisac vice-president, Javed Akhtar. “Now we must look to the future.

“I want to assure all those who entrust their copyrights to the ‘new IPRS’ of our determination to become, in the shortest possible time, a world-class society, accurately tracking and monetising all usage of their musical works in the country.”

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Cisac – the association representing the world’s copyright collection societies – has announced plans to impose sanctions against SGAE, amid continued alleged rule-breaking by its rogue member from Spain.

At a meeting of its board of directors yesterday (4 December), Cisac (the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) resolved to initiate its sanctions process against SGAE, which could result in the Spanish society’s expulsion.

“Cisac’s board of directors, at its meeting of 4 December 2018, discussed the serious situation at SGAE and the society’s breaches of Cisac rules,” reads a statement from the association. “In view of SGAE’s failure to remedy these breaches, the board decided to launch a sanctions procedure under Cisac’s statutes.

“This procedure could result in various sanctions and measures, including the expulsion of SGAE from Cisac.”

SGAE (Sociedad General de Autores y Editores) has been embroiled in controversy since June 2017, when police raided its offices in search of documentation relating to an alleged scam dubbed ‘the wheel’ (‘la rueda’), in which SGAE members and TV execs allegedly conspired to create “low-quality music” – often reworked versions of songs in the public domain – then broadcast on late-night TV, generating performance royalties collected by SGAE.

SGAE maintains it is “totally willing to comply” with Cisac’s recommendations

Royalties from music licensed under la rueda account for around 70% of monies collected by SGAE from television, despite reaching only around 1% of the TV audience, according to Spanish paper El País.

In July, four of the five big music publishers – Warner/Chappell, Sony/ATV, Universal Music Publishing and BMG – along with the smaller, US-based Peermusic, wrote to the society requesting to pull their international catalogues, which include the likes of Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, Radiohead, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and Enrique Iglesias, collectively comprising almost 60% of broadcast collections in Spain, from SGAE.

In a 65-page report published in May, Cisac found “serious concerns” relating to “distorted and inequitable distribution of royalties” at SGAE, and ordered the society to overhaul the way it does business.

While SGAE maintains it is “totally willing to comply” with Cisac’s recommendations – including the appointment of a new director-general (Gerardo Rodríguez, hired last month) and the creation of an external monitoring body, the association says SGAE has failed to fix its shortcomings. A final ruling is scheduled for Cisac’s annual general meeting in May 2019.

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Global music rights bodies, including the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (Cisac), European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers (Gesac) and International Council of Music Authors (CIAM), today launched Europe for Creators, a new venture aimed at securing a vote in favour of the controversial EU Copyright Directive on 12 September.

The second vote follows an earlier defeat for the bill, on 5 July, which was met with disappointment by much of the music industry. Music industry bodies, especially collection societies/performance rights organisations, and their counterparts in the tech sector are sharply divided on the merits of the new directive, especially its controversial Article 13: songwriters’ representatives say the legislation would ensure fair remuneration of creators when their works are used online, while internet freedom activists, including the web’s creator, Tim Berners Lee, have said it would transform the internet into a “tool for the automated surveillance and control of its users”.

Article 13, if passed, would compel “online content sharing service providers”, such as social networks or video-sharing sites like YouTube, to take “effective and proportionate” measures to combat the sharing of copyrighted works.

Internet freedom activists claim this would effectively ban memes – the internet fads, often in the form of a humorous picture or video overlaid with text, that spread virally across the web – leading creators to repackage popular memes sans copyrighted material, to highlight what they see as the absurdity of the proposed legislation.

This, however, is not true, says Europe for Creators: memes and animated gifs are already protected under existing legislation, Directive 2001/29/EC, with companies such as Google – the owner of YouTube, a platform frequently targeted by those wishing to close the ‘value gap’ between the online use of music and payment of creators – simply wishing to “hide” from their responsibilities to fairly compensate authors.

“We have enriched the lives of Europeans, and now we are calling on Europe to act”

In a launch statement, Europe for Creators says it calls on “all citizens to preserve culture and democracy in Europe” in the face of what it calls a “massive lobbying campaign” by tech companies, who, it is alleged, are profiting from the use of music online without fairly remunerating creators.

“Digital economic powers continue to profit as working artists struggle to make ends meet,” says Véronique Desbrosses (pictured), Gesac’s general manager. “The balance between the revenues generated by internet platforms and the money they give to the creators who are responsible for their success is entirely distorted.”

In the coming days, the coalition will send an open letter to all members of the European parliament, “activat[ing] them in this fight”, as well as organising “strike events” to take place in several European cities in the run-up to the vote.

“The creative and cultural industry in the European Union represents €536 billion per year, more than the combined revenue of the automotive and telecoms sectors, and is responsible for 12 million jobs,” says Desbrosses. “We have enriched the lives of Europeans, and now we are calling on Europe to act.”

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