‘Free’ music streaming grew faster than paid streaming in 2021: IFPI

Ad-funded streaming platforms (including video services) generated $4.6 billion in 2021, according to IFPI numbers. That was up 31% year-on-year (versus $3.5bn in 2020), representing an annual increase of $1.1 billion. Not bad for a section of the market many still refer to as ‘free’ streaming, which includes the freemium tier of Spotify, plus YouTube‘s video ads business.

Source: ‘Free’ music streaming paid the record industry $4.6bn in 2021… and other key insights from the latest IFPI Global Music Report

RightsTech Extra

AI Companies Get the Picture

By Paul Sweeting

One of the biggest challenges facing copyright owners in grappling with the rapid development of generative AI technology, apart from a murky legal status, has been market failure, as discussed here in previous posts. The amount of existing material needed to train gen-AI models is so great, and so varied, that gauging the value of any one piece of it to establish a market price for it for licensing purposes is often effectively impossible. One group of rights owners is finding willing buyers among AI companies, however. An active, albeit for various reasons mostly sotto voce market has begun to emerge for the use of images held in large photo archives and by photo agencies and social media platforms, complete with per-unit industry and at least a nod toward creator attribution... Read More >>

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