Business News Labels & Publishers Retail

Record industry growth? Thank the retailers, say the retailers

By | Published on Thursday 27 April 2017

Entertainment Retailers Association

So, you know how the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry confirmed this week that the global record industry saw its revenues grow 5.9% last year, right?

And you know how, as the IFPI itself said, “Record companies have fuelled this revenue growth through ongoing investment, not only in artists, but also in the systems supporting digital platforms, which has allowed for the licensing of over 40 million tracks across hundreds of services”?

You know that right? Record companies have fuelled this revenue growth. Of course they have! You’ve always said that, haven’t you? Well, you’re wrong. Wrong I tell you. Wrong, wrong, wrong. It’s all down to the retailers, of course! Think about it for a moment, people. The retailers! Providing you count the Spotifys of the world as retailers. But they’re members of the Entertainment Retailers Association, so they must be.

“The IFPI numbers amount to a ringing endorsement of the ability of digital services and retailers to broaden the market for music and generate more revenue for artists and songwriters”, said ERA boss Kim Bayley. “It is significant that the two fastest growing sectors of the music industry – streaming and vinyl records – are both the result of the innovation, market insight and investment of retailers and digital services”.

Too right. Fuck off labels, it’s all down to the retailers and digital services. “Investment from services like Spotify, Amazon Prime, Deezer and Google Play has effectively thrown a lifeline to the music industry”, Bayley added. “The key to maintaining that investment has to be to ensure an equitable split of the fruits of that success between the digital services, the artists and songwriters, and the labels and music publishers who represent them”.

You know who else has played a crucial role in turning round the fortunes of the recorded music industry? You think I’m going to say ‘artists’ don’t you? No, fuck them, music business journalists, that’s who. When will you people finally recognise the vital role us music business journalists played, being all snarky and sarcastic on the sidelines. OK, that might have just been this music business journalist. But never under-estimate the impact of the snark. I have it on good authority that it saved the music industry.



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