Record companies: digital and physical market share worldwide 2012-2023
Trusted with the task of providing the world with new music, record labels have a massive influence on the music market. But which record companies play an important role? In 2023, Universal Music Group held the largest share of the market when it came to both physical and digital, with a market share of 31.8 percent. Independents' share amounted to 30.6 percent that year, less than two percent lower than that of Universal Music Group, which remained the biggest record label in the world in 2023 with almost double the market share held by WMG.
The Big Three are dominating the market
Overall, the music market is dominated by three companies: Sony Music Group, Universal Music Group, as well as Warner Music Group. Sony Music Group is made up of Sony Music and Sony Music Publishing. Founded in 1929 as the American Record Corporation, the New York based company is currently the largest music publisher in the world. The music segment alone generated a revenue of over ten billion U.S. dollars in 2023. In terms of revenue, the company comes second with a market share of over 22 percent. The only company with a higher market share was the Universal Music Group. As one of the three major music publishers, UMG consists of four sectors: recorded music, music publishing as well as artist services and merchandise. The reason for the company’s success is undeniable when looking at the current charts: UMG has contracts with some of the most successful artists of our generation such as Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, or Eminem. Even though Warner Music has the smallest market share of the three, it is still a major player in the record music industry. The U.S. company has artists such as Ed Sheeran, Robin Schulz or the Red Hot Chilli Peppers under contract.
The music market is evolving
In 2023, the total revenue of the recorded music industry amounted to 28.6 billion U.S. dollars. Global streaming revenues reached nearly 20 billion U.S. dollars in the same year. Overall, recorded music increased by 10 percent. Streaming and subscriptions especially contribute to the high digital music revenue, reaching 13.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. The number of downloads on the other hand has been decreasing steadily over the last 15 years- a development that is likely to continue.
