In 2023, the independent music publishing business continued to grow and reached €2.57bn, up 5.7% year-on-year, with a global market share for independent music publishers of 26.3%, slightly down from 2022’s 26.7%, according to the yearly Global Market View 2025 published by the Independent Music Publishers International Forum (IMPF).

From a multi-year perspective, two significant trends dominate IMPF’s figures:

1. The value of the independent publishing sector has continuously grown since IMPF started calculating the sector’s global value. Between 2018 and 2023, independent publishers’ income grew by a significant 105.6%.
2. Independent music publishing as a whole remains the largest publishing entity in the world, ahead of the largest major company.

Good performance in 2023 was mostly due to strong music rights collections by CMOs, up by 7.6% to €11.7bn, boosted by digital revenues. “Make no mistakes, as this report shows, the global independent music publishing community has significant economic value,” said Annette Barrett, President of IMPF.

Capturing the importance of the sector

“When we launched this project in 2019, little did we know that it was going to become a landmark contribution to the music publishing sector,” added Barrett. “Our initial goal was to have a picture of what independent music publishers were worth in the global market. We got that and much more. Each year, we provide a figure that captures the importance of the sector; that has become a crucial tool in our engagement with policy-makers: this is what we’re worth, and this is why we matter.”

The figures taken into consideration for this report include the share of revenues that go through the network of CMOs around the world but do not include royalties paid directly to songwriters and composers.

The figures in this report are an estimate that give an order of magnitude of the music publishing sector in general and of the independent music publishing community in particular. The main sources of data are Will Page’s annual report on the value of the music copyright market; Music & Copyright’s annual music publishing market share report; and CISAC’s Global Collections Report.

Consistent methodology

Since the methodology and the sources of data have been consistent over the past three reports, they give a sense of scale and afford a look at trends of time and place. The currency used for this report is the Euro. As of December 31, 2023, the average conversion rate of the US Dollar to the Euro was 0.924, as defined by the IRS.

According to estimates from Music & Copyright (M&C), the global music publishing market is dominated by the three major companies — Sony Music Publishing (SMP), part of Sony Music Entertainment; Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG), part of Universal Music Group; and Warner Chappell Music (WCM), part of Warner Music Group.

Together, the three majors’ market share was 60.6% in 2023, while independent publishers with a global market share lower than 5% have a 26.3% share, slightly lower than in 2022 (26.7%).

Increasing consolidation

As the table below indicates, independent music publishers have been affected by an increasing consolidation of the global music publishing market, which mirrors a similar situation in the recorded music side of the business. Catalogues that were previously independently managed have been changing ownership and acquired by majors, BMG or Kobalt. This trend is expected to continue.

The global value of the music copyright-related market was €42.0 billion ($45.5 billion) in 2023, up from €38.8 billion ($41.0 billion) in 2022, according to economist Will Page.This IMPF Global Market view also highlights various aspects of independent music publishers’ activities, namely:

The global market value for music publishers (excluding authors and composers’ share), therefore, was €9.8bn in 2023. Independent publishers capture 26.3%, or €2.57bn of that against €2.43bn in 2022.

Development of digital collections

The value of the sector in 2023 confirms a positive trend — revenues of independent music publishers around the world have been growing year-on-year since 2020, the first year IMPF started producing data. The sector’s value has grown from €1.15 billion in 2018 to €2.57 billion in 2023, or by an impressive 105.6%.

“There is a paradox here as, on the one hand, independent music publishers’ market share is diminishing, but its global value is increasing. This can be explained by the exceptional growth of the overall music copyright sector and, in particular for music publishing, the growth in music collections globally, boosted by the development of digital collections worldwide,” reads the report.

The report noted that beyong market figires, independent music publishers “continue to perform crucial tasks in all the countries where they operate: supporting local artists, ensuring their songs are recorded and disseminated, giving them a global platform, protecting their rights and constantly looking for new opportunities for their music.”

Key agents of cultural diversity

These contributions include:

> Publishers’ contribution to the creative eco-system, through the constant sourcing, signing and developing of new, up-and-coming talent. Independent music publishers are the main support of creators — songwriters, composers, lyricists in all genres, languages and styles — who are the foundation of the music industry. This activity makes independent publishers and their songwriters’ key agents of cultural diversity.

> The value of the song. Publishers are the custodians of songs and compositions. But there is an imbalance between the remuneration of songwriters and publishers and that of recordings. In the era of streaming, this imbalance is seen as unfair by IMPF members and songwriters and needs to be addressed.

> Publishers as valuable partners in the music eco-system. Alongside other stakeholders in the music creation and distribution process, independent publishers contribute to all the activities crucial to the sector’s proper functioning, including working with CMOs to ensure efficiency as well as improving the quality of the data used in the system.

A few clouds ahead

The report also lists “a few clouds are darkening the picture,” namely:

A > Increasing consolidation

Songs have become hot property, with top catalogues selling for seven figures, if not more, making the publishing sector more attractive to investors, and resulting in many independent companies selling to majors or big venture capitalist groups. Consolidation and acquisition of catalogues and publishing companies has reduced the market share of independent music companies.

This is of concern because independent publishers serve a key role in the music eco-system. The reduction of the number of companies and catalogues available, and the new levels of investment in catalogue acquisition, closes independent routes to the music market, and has a negative impact on cultural diversity.

“We are very concerned by the increasing consolidation of the global music publishing market. Market concentration affects the diversity of the ecosystem, harms competition and ultimately reduces choice for songwriters and publishers. Collectively, independent music publishers represent a significant share of the business, across thousands of micro, small and medium-sized economic entities. The level of concentration we are now seeing has become an issue which should be addressed,” explained Nicole Schulze, Secretary General, IMPF.

B > The threats and opportunities of AI.

Music has entered a new era with AI, which will have a transformative impact on many levels. Whilst it can enhance royalty management and offer creative tools, it will also pose unprecedented challenges. Effective guardrails that empower rather than replace songwriters and composers will be essential. For IMPF, policy-makers must reaffirm the following principles:

• AI model providers must respect fundamental rights, including copyright and related rights, by diligently seeking and respecting the express wishes of rightsholders.
• Effective and full transparency towards rightsholders on the copyrighted works and content used to train AI models.
• Encouraging operators of AI models to seek licenses, within the framework of authorisations duly negotiated with rightsholders.
• Appropriate and fair remuneration for the use of works and content protected by intellectual property rights.
• Effective sanctions for non-compliance with these principles.

For British songwriter Jamie Hartman, AI poses an existential threat to creators and the creative sector. “We are going to have a lot of uncomfortable conversations with policy-makers and tech companies. If songwriters keep losing income to AI, what will happen to the business? I love being a songwriter, but how long will it last?,” asked Hartman. “The only way forward is to protect IP and do it by using the most advanced technology. If you can’t prove it’s yours, then you can’t monetise it. Everybody’s waking up to the struggle we are facing as humanity with AI. We are just the canaries in the coal mine.”

C > The value of the song

The report highlights that while the music business is the business of songs, the remuneration of publishers, songwriters and composers does not reflect the full contribution of songs to the music ecosystem. Streaming has further accelerated this gap and independent music publishers call for a better balance in the allocation of royalties between recording and publishing in the digital world. In order to achieve this, collaboration between record labels, music publishers, and creators is essential.

“To ensure a fairer streaming market that values and compensates all creators, we must have a transparent and constructive dialogue,” said IMPF.

D > Bringing efficiencies to collective management organisations

As well as being the active partners of songwriters and composers, music publishers’ interests are intertwined with CMOs since the vast majority of revenues from the use of songs comes from this network of CMOs. That’s why publishers and CMOs, as well as their representative organisations IMPF and CISAC, are working closely together towards better rights administration and governance with the aim to improve the flow of revenues to music publishers and their creators.

“As a global organisation, we are pleased with the continued growth of our sector. This reflects positively on all our members around the world, who fight every day to build a business deeply rooted in local communities and, at the same time, contribute to cultural diversity. We are, however, deeply concerned about the impact of AI on our businesses,” explained IMPF Board of Directors in the report.