U.S. music publishing see a decade of double digit growth
Image credit: Siora Photography
For the tenth year in a row, U.S. music publishing revenue has grown by a 2-digit percentage after battles to reclaim lost music publishing income.
A remarkable $7.04 billion. That’s the NMPA’s (National Music Publishers’ Association) newly revealed data for 2024. That was the figure of music publishing revenues generated in the United States last year.
The figures were revealed by the NMPA and their CEO David Israelite at a recent meeting. They revealed that 2024’s music publishing revenues represent the 10th year in a row of double digit growth. The figures grew 13.41% from 2024, surpassing the U.S. recorded streaming revenues which grew just 3.6%.
The growth of music publishing revenues in recent years hasn’t come from nowhere. Israelite points to the battles of recent years to get sources not paying for licensing to pay: “We fought, we won, and now nearly $2 billion of our revenue last year came from these sources.”
Israelite continues: “This incredible 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.”
The NMPA point towards the impact of the Mechanical Licensing Collective, an organisation launched in 2021 and designated by the U.S. copyright office to administer mechanical licenses across digital music stores.
The MLC have been at odds with Spotify in the last year, after Spotify bundled audiobooks into their service, impacting publishing royalties generated by streams on their platform. Spotify won a lawsuit over the issue, but the MLC have asked the court to reconsider.
Whilst 2024’s results look great, David Israelite says that there is a “unique problem” in which songwriters do not “stick together” to ensure their rights in licensing and revenues. He said: “Those who are fighting for fair songwriter rates are sometimes attacked by some of the very songwriters they are trying to help.”
He goes on: “I am calling on recording artists, managers, and record labels to stand with non-performing songwriters whenever and wherever they strike. There is an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in song-writer 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.”