Latin America Leads the Way in Music Revenue Growth, Fueled By Gains in Streaming: IFPI
Music revenue grew 12 percent in Latin America in 2016, the highest increase for any region internationally, according to IFPI's just-released Global Music Report 2017. It was the seventh year in a…
Music revenue grew 12 percent in Latin America in 2016, the highest increase for any region internationally, according to IFPI’s just-released Global Music Report 2017. It was the seventh year in a row that growth in Latin America topped that in other parts of the world.
There was a 57 percent rise in streaming revenue in Latin America, where digital now represents half of the total market.
“The growth is being driven by streaming and mostly by Spotify and Apple,” Jesus Lopez, CEO of Universal Music Latin America, says. “The challenge is to get more and more consumers to convert from ad-supported models to subscription services. Part of that challenge is to tailor local solutions that reflect the consumer behavior of people in their own territories, such as differences in the periodicity of payments –daily or weekly – and spending in local currency.”
Related
Spotify’s Director of Economics Will Page highlighted the strength of Latin America in the IFPI report.
“We’re looking at the possibility of Brazil and Mexico potentially overtaking the UK and Germany in terms of user numbers,” he is quoted as saying. “That’s not to the detriment of the UK and Germany, it’s all about the unexpected and exceptional performance of Brazil and Mexico. They’re bigger countries of course, but whilst their infrastructure is much less developed, their smartphone adoption is escalating at a much faster rate, driving access to services like Spotify.”
Music revenue in Mexico, the region’s second largest market, grew by 23.6 percent in 2016. Banda Sinaloense MS de Sergio Lizárraga, Maluma and Coldplay were Spotify’s three most-streamed artists for the year, according to company figures.
While many smaller markets also saw growth, Latin America’s largest market, Brazil, actually declined by 2.8 percent last year overall.
Alfonso Perez Soto, vp business development Latin America at Warner Music Group, agreed with Lopez that music services could make greater gains in the region by increasing localization.
“We need fans to convert to paying for music subscription services and that means digital platforms need to offer a range of ways for people to pay,” Perez Soto said in the report, adding that teams should be on the ground in different markets to produce more local editorial content and forge local partnerships.
More From Pro
