Music copyright is measured through several connected systems: royalties collected for creators, recorded-music revenue, licensing rights, copyright registrations and creator earnings. The latest figures show a rapidly expanding digital economy, but the money reaching individual musicians remains uneven.
Contents
- Global royalty collections
- Digital rights and royalty streams
- Recorded music formats
- Regional music markets
- Copyright registrations in the United States
- Creator earnings and streaming distribution
Global royalty collections
CISAC member societies collected EUR13.97 billion in creator royalties worldwide in 2024, an increase of 6.6% from 2023. Music accounted for EUR12.59 billion, up 7.2% year over year. CISAC’s Global Collections Report 2025 says total creator-royalty collections were 65.2% higher in 2024 than in 2015, while music collections were about two-thirds higher than a decade earlier.
The strongest long-term change was digital. Global digital creator-royalty collections reached EUR5.14 billion in 2024, up 11.2% from 2023. Digital creator income increased 596.2% between 2015 and 2024 and rose 110.6% between 2020 and 2024. By comparison, global TV and radio creator income increased 3.8% from 2015 to 2024.
Other major collection categories also grew in 2024. Live and background creator royalties reached EUR3.60 billion, up 9.6% year over year. TV and radio royalties reached EUR3.94 billion, up 0.8%. These figures describe collections by CISAC member societies, rather than a single payment rate for an individual songwriter, performer or rights holder.
Digital rights and royalty streams
Digital revenue does not have the same weight in every country. In 2024, digital revenue represented 27.1% of creator-royalty collections in the United States, 13.9% in France and 11.4% in the United Kingdom, according to the CISAC Global Collections Report 2025.
Several markets had substantially higher digital shares. Digital revenue exceeded 75% of creator-royalty collections in Mali, Nepal, the Philippines, Indonesia, India and Vietnam in 2024. Mali had the highest listed share at 89.9%, followed by Vietnam at 89.6%, India at 82.7%, Indonesia at 82.5%, the Philippines at 80.9% and Nepal at 78.2%.
The reported change since 2015 was also substantial in these markets. Vietnam’s digital share grew 1,732.5% since 2015; India’s grew 67,630.9%; Indonesia’s grew 2,657.4%; the Philippines’ grew 9,101.9%; and Nepal’s grew 21,513.2%. These are growth figures for the digital share of creator-royalty collections, not per-stream payment increases and not changes in the number of streams.
| Market | Digital share of creator royalties, 2024 | Reported growth since 2015 |
|---|---|---|
| Mali | 89.9% | Not stated |
| Vietnam | 89.6% | 1,732.5% |
| India | 82.7% | 67,630.9% |
| Indonesia | 82.5% | 2,657.4% |
| Philippines | 80.9% | 9,101.9% |
| Nepal | 78.2% | 21,513.2% |
Recorded music formats
Global recorded-music revenue reached US$31.7 billion in 2025, up 6.4% and marking an 11th consecutive year of growth. The IFPI Global Music Report 2026 reports that paid subscription streaming generated 52.4% of global recorded-music revenue, with revenue growth of 8.8%. Paid streaming subscriptions reached 837 million users worldwide in 2025.
Streaming as a whole generated 69.6% of global recorded-music revenue in 2025 after growing 7.7%, according to the IFPI State of the Industry report. Physical recorded-music revenue reached US$5.3 billion, up 8.0%. Vinyl revenue grew 13.7%, its 19th consecutive year of growth. CD and music-video revenue increased 3.7% and 10.8%, respectively.
Some rights categories were smaller or declining. Global synchronization revenue totaled US$641 million in 2025, down 2.0% and equal to 2.0% of recorded-music revenue. Performance-rights revenue reached US$2.9 billion, up 0.3% and equal to 9.3% of industry revenue. Downloads and other digital formats declined 5.0% and represented 2.5% of global recorded-music revenue.
These figures measure different parts of the music economy. Recorded-music revenue is not identical to creator-royalty collections, and a format share does not describe how revenue is divided between labels, publishers, collecting societies, performers, songwriters and other rights holders.
Regional music markets
The USA and Canada accounted for 38.7% of global recorded-music revenue in 2025 after regional growth of 3.5%. Europe accounted for 30.4% after growing 5.6%. The European Union alone reached EUR6.0 billion, up 5.1% and equal to 21.3% of global revenue. These regional measurements come from the IFPI Global Music Report 2026.
Asia’s recorded-music revenue grew 10.9% in 2025, and the region accounted for 45.1% of global physical revenue. Japan’s recorded-music revenue grew 8.9%, while China’s grew 20.1%, the fastest growth among the top 20 markets.
| Region or market | 2025 result |
|---|---|
| USA and Canada share of global revenue | 38.7% |
| Europe share of global revenue | 30.4% |
| Asia growth | 10.9% |
| China growth | 20.1% |
| Japan growth | 8.9% |
| Latin America growth | 17.1% |
| MENA growth | 15.2% |
Latin America’s recorded-music revenue grew 17.1% in 2025, its 16th consecutive year of growth, and streaming represented 88.1% of the regional total. Middle East and North Africa revenue grew 15.2%, with streaming representing 97.5% of the regional total. Sub-Saharan Africa revenue also grew 15.2%, reaching US$120 million.
Copyright registrations in the United States
Registrations provide a different view of copyright activity from revenue reports. The United States Copyright Office Annual Report FY 2025 recorded 88,553 published and unpublished musical-work registrations in fiscal year 2025. It recorded 48,923 published and unpublished sound-recording registrations.
Published musical-work registrations totaled 56,558, compared with 31,995 unpublished musical-work registrations. For sound recordings, published registrations totaled 29,958 and unpublished registrations totaled 18,965. These counts describe registrations recorded by the Copyright Office during FY2025, not the number of newly written songs or newly released recordings.
The office also registered 3,739 group registrations of musical works published on the same album and 4,976 group registrations of sound recordings published on the same album. Unpublished group registrations covered 8,195 musical works and 12,436 sound recordings.
Across all subject matters, performing-arts registrations totaled 166,822 in FY2025, including musical works, sound recordings, motion pictures and other works. Total registrations across all subject matters reached 415,780. The report also recorded 509 preregistrations and 2,151 supplementary registrations across all subject matters.
Creator earnings and streaming distribution
The UK evidence illustrates why industry growth should not be confused with equal creator income. The UK government’s Music creators’ earnings in the digital era reported approximately GBP1.69 billion in UK recorded-music revenues from streaming, downloads, physical sales, synchronization, public performance and broadcast rights in 2019. Streaming represented 58% of recorded-music revenue for recording-rights holders in 2020.
For UK music-publishing rights holders in 2019, streaming, broadcasting and public-performance rights generated roughly 30%, 30% and 28% of revenue, respectively. In the study’s analysis, about 52% of UK streaming revenue after VAT went to recording rights holders. The report’s streaming estimates put average UK streaming revenue at about GBP0.011 per stream in 2012–2019, including about GBP0.006 to recording rights holders and GBP0.002 to publishing rights holders.
The same analysis estimated about GBP6,000 per million UK streams went to recording rights holders, while industry estimates ranged from GBP4,000 to GBP5,000. These are historical UK estimates for the stated period, not a universal current streaming rate and not a guaranteed payment for every recording.
Longer-term earnings estimates also differed by rights category. Estimated UK featured, non-featured and studio-performer earnings from recording rights rose from GBP220 million in 2008 to GBP296 million in 2019. Estimated UK composer and lyricist earnings from music-publishing rights rose from GBP265 million in 2008 to GBP395 million in 2019, an 11% increase after inflation adjustment.
The distribution among musicians was uneven. In the UK musician survey, 52% usually self-released recordings, 18% used record companies and 23% used a mixture of both routes. In 2019, 37% of surveyed UK musicians earned GBP5,000 or less from music, 47% earned under GBP10,000 and 62% earned GBP20,000 or less. Together, these figures show the central tension in music copyright statistics: royalty and recorded-music markets can expand quickly while individual creator earnings remain dependent on rights ownership, contracts, usage and audience scale.