Music industry earnings 2021 Riding the wave

Our clients have full access to all of our reports. Clients can log in to read this report. Click here to become a client or, you can purchase this individual report.

20,000 foot view:  In this report MIDiA presents, contrasts and analyses headline financial metrics of        leading music industry companies across labels, publishers, streaming and live. The companies tracked represent more than half of total global music industry revenues across these sectors. 

Key insights :

All figures refer to growth of the        tracked companies

• The combined revenue growth rate of the tracked companies across labels, publishers, digital service providers (DSPs) and live was        in 2021
• Live, still recovering from the pandemic collapse, increased its share of total to        up from        in 2020, but this was still far below its        share in 2019
• Major labels and DSPs both grew streaming revenues by        despite each having hedges against the other (labels: non-DSP streaming, DSPs: social entertainment and podcasts)
• UMG remained the largest label group, with revenues up        to        billion – but Sony Music Group (SMG) grew faster        to reach        billion
• Believe grew faster than all of the majors (up        to reach        billion) while HYBE grew its recorded music revenues by an even stronger       
• Music publishers grew by        with Warner Chappell growing fastest       
• Spotify dominated DSP streaming revenue with        billion, but both Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) and NetEase Cloud Music grew faster        and        respectively)
• Pandora, despite having a userbase that is        times smaller than TME’s, still generated        more revenue in 2021
• Spotify’s 2021 subscriber base grew by        to hit        million, compared to        and        growth for TME and NetEase Cloud Music respectively

Company financials covered in this report: Believe, HYBE, Live Nation, LiveXLive, NetEase Cloud Music, Pandora, Reservoir Media, Sony Music Group, Spotify, Tencent Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group

Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Believe, HYBE, Ithaca Holdings, Live Nation, LiveXLive, Meta, NetEase Cloud Music, Pandora, Peloton, Reservoir Media, Sony Music Group, Sony Music Publishing, Slacker, Snap, Spotify, Tencent Music Entertainment, TikTok, Universal Music Group, Universal Music Publishing, Warner Music Group, Warner Chappell