Recorded music revenues in the UK increased by 4.7% in 2022 to £1.32 billion, marking eight successive years of growth and a rise of 36% over the past five years (£968.6 million in 2017), according to a new report by the BPI.
The figure of £1.32 billion is the highest nominal annual amount on record. However, when adjusted for inflation, the figure falls hundreds of millions of pounds below the total reported in 2006 – the first year which includes sync and public performance. Adjusted for CPI, UK trade revenue in 2022 was £443 million below the figure of £1.76 billion where the industry should have been in real terms since 2006, while using RPI it would have been £688 million higher at £2.00 billion.
Growth in 2022 was once again driven by climbing streaming revenues, which rose 6.3% year-on-year to £885 million and which now account for 67.2% of industry revenue – up from 66.2% in 2021.
Over the 12 months, overall revenue from the consumption of music on physical formats fell 10.5% to £215.7 million, with rising revenue of £119.5 million from the purchase of albums on vinyl up 3.1% helping to offset a 23.7% drop in CD revenue to £89.5 million. Vinyl now accounts for more than half (55%) of the revenue derived from music on physical formats, and the BPI can officially confirm that in 2022 vinyl generated more trade revenue than CD for the first time since 1987.
Sophie Jones, BPI chief strategy officer and Interim CEO, said: “The hard work and creativity of UK artists and labels meant that 2022 was another great year for British music, but we must guard against any complacency in the face of growing challenges and keep promoting and protecting the value of music. That’s why labels continue to innovate and invest in new talent and areas to connect more artists and fans while driving additional revenues. The UK environment has always enabled recorded music to thrive, something we must safeguard, but now we need the music community to unite and create the impetus for further growth so that we can build on an already strong foundation to futureproof the success of British music in an increasingly competitive global music market.”
Streaming revenue of £885 million (up 6.3%) was shaped largely by paid subscriptions to services such as Amazon, Apple, Spotify and YouTube, rising by 4.8% to £762.8 million (up from £727.6m in 2021). Ad-funded streaming income, though worth less than a tenth of the value of subscriptions, still grew by over a fifth in 2022 (22.3%) to £62.5 million (up from £51.1m). Revenue from digital downloads continues to decline as consumption accelerates its shift towards streaming – falling by 17.5% (less than the 23.2% drop in 2021), with downloaded tracks and albums still generating £27.6 million.
The year’s most-streamed track was Harry Styles’ As It Was (Song of the Year at the 2023 BRITs), followed by Ed Sheeran’s Bad Habits (who also had Shivers in the top 5), Glass Animals’ Heat Waves, which topped the US charts, and Go by former BRIT School student turned pop sensation Cat Burns.
The BPI reported in January that the purchase of albums on vinyl grew for a 15th consecutive year in 2022, and this translated into trade revenues of £119.5 million, up 3.1% on the year. The biggest-selling albums on the format were led by Taylor Swift’s Midnights, Harry Styles’ Harrys House (which picked up the 2023 BRIT Award for Mastercard Album of the Year) and The Car by Arctic Monkeys.
Vinyl’s continuing popularity, boosted by events including Record Store Day and National Album Day, meant that revenue from the sale of LPs, which now makes up 55% of earnings from physical formats, overtook the amount generated by CD (£89.5m) for the first time since 1987. Cassette sales weighed in with over half a million pounds to trade revenues, with the biggest sellers Arctic Monkeys’ The Car, Harry Styles’ Harry’s House, Florence + The Machine’s Dance Fever, Muse’s Will Of The People, and 23 by Central Cee.
Synchronisation or ‘sync’ – the music used in film, TV, gaming, and other soundtracks and in advertising – has been an area of growth for artists and labels in recent years. Disrupted by the pandemic in the preceding period, revenue increased by 39% in 2022 to reach £42.7 million. Income from the public performance of music, which was similarly impacted by the Covid hiatus, also showed encouraging growth, up 23% in 2022 to stand at £143.4 million.