The royalties market is adapting faster than ever as creators unlock new avenues for growth, leading executives from the sector have told Music Week.
Our October edition features a special report on the booming business, where a raft of its key players outline the area's biggest changes, challenges and expansion opportunities.
Among them is Sound Royalties CEO Alex Heiche, who described the last year as "an exciting one" for the creative economy, as artists and rightsholders continue to find more ways than ever to earn from their work.
"Traditional revenue from record sales and streaming platforms remain hugely important, but we’re also seeing artists diversify into brand deals, sync licensing, fan engagement platforms, and short-form content creation across TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and more," he said.
Heiche commended the influence of cutting-edge technology in driving the business forward.
"For years, artists and rights holders have faced delays and gaps in getting properly credited, but now, new technology is helping change that," he told Music Week. "Tools like AI and blockchain are starting to streamline the process, making it easier to track where music is used and ensure faster, more accurate payments."
Richard Leach, president of Downtown’s Curve Royalty Systems, said the digital revolution had underlined "the need for a great royalty solution”.
"Our mission statement is simply ‘Make Royalties Better'," he said. "That means making them quicker, more transparent, easier to understand, complete, and, most importantly, easier for our clients to fulfil their reporting obligations.
“I’ve always said the industry has two jobs – put the music out there and then pay the creator for it. If a business fails at either of those then they have an existential problem. Faffing about running calculations on lines of data under an immovable deadline is dull as ditchwater to many in our industry, but it is absolutely essential. If we can contribute to making that a bit easier, then we are pleased to have been of service."
It’s clearer than ever that to maintain momentum, we must look beyond traditional markets and territories
Andrea Czapary Martin
Bill Colitre, COO and general counsel of Music Reports, which recently completed its integration of London-based provider of music publishing rights management solutions Blokur, hailed the proliferation of subscribers to music services globally as the “greatest macro trend driving growth”.
“This rising tide has been lifting all boats in the music industry since 2014 and, while beginning to moderate in some of the early-adopter countries, remains in double-digit growth for many countries with large populations,” he said. “We see this trend continuing for the foreseeable future.”
PRS For Music CEO Andrea Czapary Martin noted the collection society's record revenues – which hit £1.15 billion in 2024 – were primarily powered by online services including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. She also cited the success of stadium and arena tours over the past 18 months, which fuelled a 30.6% rise in collections from the live sector to £89.6 million.
Nevertheless, she warned the music industry was facing "stronger headwinds" in the coming years.
"It’s clearer than ever that to maintain momentum, we must look beyond traditional markets and territories," she said. "The gaming sector offers that opportunity – predicted to reach $300 billion by 2030 – while focusing our efforts in unserved and ineffective territories will ensure more money is returned to members.”
Neighbouring rights organisation PPL also reported a record 2024 after generating £301m – the highest in its 90-year history – and paid more than 172,000 performers and recording rights holders. The neighbouring rights market reached $2.9bn in 2024, up 5.9% year-on-year and the fourth year of successive growth according to the IFPI.
“As more companies looked to attract staff back into the workplace, we saw an uplift of 8% in revenues from factories and offices taking a music licence in 2024,” said Kate Reilly, PPL’s chief membership and people officer. “We also saw international revenue grow by 7% in 2024 – more territories are recognising neighbouring rights and it’s encouraging to see greater collaboration across the sector.
“Goldman Sachs estimated that the neighbouring rights market could be worth over $4bn by 2030, meaning there is $1bn of untapped revenue to be captured in the next five years – that is an exciting prospect."
Songwriters and publishers expect better visibility and quicker payments, and technology is finally catching up to meet those expectations
Lynn Lowe
Austin Jacobs, partner in international advisory and accounting firm Prager Metis, said he was impressed by the resilience shown by the royalties market over the past year.
“Despite earlier concerns around catalogue valuations, the sustained interest from private equity and institutional investors has helped maintain strong asset values,” he said. “Additionally, recent price increases by streaming platforms have not deterred subscriber growth, which is an encouraging sign for the long-term stability and revenue potential of music rights.”
Ben Marlow, director of Y Royalties, which specialises in royalty audits, rights management, catalogue valuation and transaction due diligence, brought up the changing conversation around royalty audits.
“Things have taken off here since the Covid-19 pandemic when artists, unable to tour, practice or record, were sitting at home looking at their royalty statements with renewed scrutiny, as they became the vital source of income to see them through the lockdowns,” he said. “Since then, Y Royalties has been bringing together an investigative curiosity, a forensic mindset with cutting-edge technology and data models, to handle a growing number of audit requests."
Marlow suggested the industry has "reached a pivotal point” for the future of royalty audits.
"While Y Royalties services use innovative approaches, processes, and tools which are 100% focused on enhancing client value and realising the maximum commercial potential of their music assets, we still need to work towards innovating existing structures," he said.
Meanwhile, SESAC Music Group’s Music Services president, label and publishing administration Lynn Lowe said she was confident the royalties sector was moving towards being faster and more transparent.
“Songwriters and publishers expect better visibility and quicker payments, and technology is finally catching up to meet those expectations,” she said. “Collaboration and centralised collection systems across the industry will be key to making that happen. The front end of the music ecosystem no longer wants to deal with multiple companies for their collections. They are looking for a strategic partner that can help them grow and deal with the complexity of royalty collection transparently and fairly, with expertise and a team that cares.”
Subscribers can check out the full report here.
