EXTRA From housing to securities to precious metals, many asset markets around the world are reeling in the face of persistent inflation, rising interest rates and fears of recession. While capital has continued to flow into the market for for rights-based assets, including music publishing catalogs, those waters, too, have shown some choppiness of late as well.
EXTRA For more than two decades after the launch of Rhapsody, and then Real Networks, the price of a basic music streaming subscription, unlike nearly every other product or service, remained remarkably static — cemented a 9.99 a month across nearly all territories and currencies, irrespective of exchange rates. But it appears, at long last, as if the dam has begun to burst.
EXTRA Apropos the panel discussion we hosted at last month’s RightsTech Summit on the evolving role of podcasts and audio originals in the movie and streaming video ecosystem, here’s another interesting data point, courtesy of Edison Research’s annual spoken-word audio report, which was released this week: spoken-word audio listening is increasingly digital and mobile. According to the report, more than one-third of all spoke-word listening was done via mobile device in 2022, compared to only 25% in 2019. Another 25% was accounted for by computers, smart speakers or connected TVs. Less than 40% occurred via traditional AM/FM radio.
EXTRA Here’s an Interesting data point from CISAC’s latest Global Collections Report, released today: Music was the only repertoire among the major creative industries to show increased royalty collections in 2021. Collections in all other categories were either flat, as was TV & Radio, the biggest category overall, or down from 2020. Music’s growth, moreover, came despite the sharp drop in collections from live performances and background uses of music that began in 2020 and continued through 2021, as venues remained shuttered and people around the world remained huddled at home due to the Covid pandemic.