.
Last year, the music industry experienced unprecedented growth, setting a new record with $29.6 billion in revenue, based on recent data. Online streaming was a key contributor, making up 69 percent of the industry’s income, equating to $20.4 billion. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) highlighted that 2024 marked the tenth consecutive year of industry growth, with a 4.8 percent increase in overall revenue. While there was a 3.1 percent decline in physical format sales, vinyl saw an 18th consecutive year of growth with a 4.6 percent rise.
Taylor Swift was the most-streamed artist in 2024, and the top singles included Benson Boone’s “Beautiful Things” with 2.11 billion streams, Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” with 1.79 billion streams, and Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” with 1.7 billion streams.
The biggest music markets remained the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom, with the Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America showing the fastest growth rates of 22.8 percent, 22.6 percent, and 22.5 percent, respectively.
Despite these achievements, there are growing concerns over the effects of generative AI on music rights. IFPI CEO Victoria Oakley expressed worries about AI using copyrighted music without authorization to train models, recognizing AI’s potential but also calling it a “huge challenge ahead” and a “very real and present threat to human artistry.”
