New research published today reveals that Universal Music Group (UMG) has extended its dominance in the recorded music sector. According to the Informa Telecoms & Media publication MUSIC & COPYRIGHT, the company increased its share of recorded music sales to 28.8% from 25.7% in 2006. Of the four major record companies, EMI performed the worst with its share down to 10.9%

Recorded music revenue of the majors from all sources and their global market shares (%)

*The 2006 figures are not strictly comparable to the 2007 shares because they only include revenues from physical and digital sales, whereas the 2007 figures include licensing and miscellaneous revenues. They are offered only for guidance.
Source: MUSIC & COPYRIGHT research

MUSIC & COPYRIGHT can also reveal that following Vivendi' s purchase of BMG Music Publishing, which gained regulatory approval last year, its music publishing division, UMPG was the largest in the world in 2007, ahead of previous market leader EMI Music Publishing. UMPG' s revenues of US$0.9 billion represented a global music publishing market share of 22.2% in 2007, compared to EMI MP' s 19.8%.

Global revenues and market shares of the leading music publishers

*The 2006 figure for UMPG is the combination of the pre-merged UMPG (11.9%) and BMG MP (12.6%) and is not strictly comparable to the 2007. The figure is offered only for guidance.
Source: MUSIC & COPYRIGHT research

According to Phil Hardy, editor of MUSIC & COPYRIGHT, "this is the second consecutive year that one company has dominated both the recorded music and music publishing sectors. Because this dominance is even stronger in current releases, it has led to concern that UMG' s size is a destabilising influence in what remains a declining market.

MUSIC & COPYRIGHT has calculated that the trade value of physical and digital recorded music sales fell by 8.3% in 2007 to US$18.9 billion. Digital sales continued to provide some comfort, rising to US$2.9 billion in 2007, equivalent to slightly less than 15% of the total sales. In 2006 it was US$2.1 billion and accounted for 11%.

Global trade value of recorded music sales in 2007

*The amount distributed to record companies i.e. collections made on their behalf minus the commissions due to the collection societies
**Includes revenues from litigation settlements, licensing, synchronisation and suchlike
All dollar figures, including percentage changes are based on average 2007 exchange rates
Source: MUSIC & COPYRIGHT research.

Simon Dyson, Principal Music Analyst at Informa stated that "any hope of digital making up for the downturn of physical sales anytime soon has now gone. We' re in the middle of a massive realignment in the music industry which is likely to end with an industry worth considerably less than it was just 10 years ago. On the positive side, the music industry has not lost any of its desire to innovate and that is likely to be its ultimate salvation" .

Phil Hardy noted that "the growth in neighbouring rights and miscellaneous revenues, both of which grew dramatically in 2007, suggest that any significant growth for the majors in the near future is likely to come from these sources. That is, of course if the majors can achieve enough so-called 360 degree deals before equally powerful competitors from the live sector expand their presence in this area. Live Nation had revenues of US$4.2 billion in 2007, which was larger than any of the majors bar UMG."

Note for editors: The recorded music market shares in this release have been developed through an intensive examination of the statements of the major record companies, the views of analysts and MUSIC & COPYRIGHT's confidential conversations with the majors.

MUSIC & COPYRIGHT is published by Informa Telecoms & Media. It is the only independent source in the world for recorded music and music publishing market shares. Published fortnightly, it covers copyright and legal issues on a global scale, focusing on developments shaping the international music business.

Written by industry experts it delivers accurate statistics and data from primary research, independent coverage of new product launches, in-depth company profiles and intelligent sector profiles not available from any other source.