Taxi Driver by Rkomi was Italy's best-selling album in H1 2022
Italy’s recorded music revenues topped €153 million in H1 2022, marking YoY growth of 18.3%.
That H1 revenue haul was up €23.6 million on the €129.4 million generated in H1 2021.
These numbers were confirmed today (September 1) by FIMI, the organization that represents the Italian recorded music industry, and whose members include Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music and BMG.
One of the biggest highlights of the first six months of the year in Italy’s recorded music market was that both the Top 10 best-selling singles and albums were comprised entirely of local acts.
Speaking to MBW, FIMI CEO Enzo Mazza said the dominance of homegrown artists in the market, “is largely due to the strong investments from the labels into new talents”.
Mazza also noted that there has been “a strong generation shift” over the past 10 years, with the average age for an artist in the top ten down 35% compared to 2012. The average age of artists appearing in the Top 10 in Italy last year was 26, versus 36 in 2012.
Elsewhere in FIMI’s report, the organization reveals that revenues from subscription audio streams grew 13.7% to reach €76.8 million, up €9.3 million versus the €67.5 million generated in the same period last year.
Revenues from ad-supported audio streams, meanwhile, grew 33.1% to €22.1 million in H1.
Overall, music streaming (including ad-supported and subscription audio, plus digital video ads) generated €118 million in H1, up 20.8% YoY.
Vinyl sales grew 17.5% to €14.7 million in H1 versus €12.5 million in H1 2021.
Overall, physical music has a 17% share of the local recorded music market, while streaming accounts for 83%.
The dominance of Italy’s homegrown artists in the market in H1 forms part of a trend to have emerged in Italy over the past couple of years.
In the first half of 2021 for example, the full Top 13 of Italy’s domestic album chart and the entire Top 10 of the country’s singles chart for H1 2021 was made up of Italian and Italian language acts, according to FIMI/GFK data.
Plus, every album in the Top 20 of the country’s domestic album chart for the full year of 2021 was from a local artist. Additionally, the full Top 10 of its Singles Chart for the year was also comprised entirely of Italian acts.
Today’s H1 2022 results follow the news from March that Italian recorded music revenues grew 27.8% in 2021 to reach $392.4 million (€332m), up €72m ($85m) versus 2020, when the market generated €259.89 million ($296.3m) in recorded music revenues.
“Italy is now the fourth largest market in Europe and one of the top countries in the world where domestic acts are driving the charts.”
Enzo Mazza, FIMI
Speaking to MBW, FIMI CEO Enzo Mazza said: “Italy is now the fourth largest market in Europe and one of the top countries in the world where domestic acts are driving the charts.
“This is largely due to the strong investments from the labels into new talents. During the last ten years there was a strong generation shift and in 2021 the average age for an artist in the top ten was 35% down from 2012
,”In 2012 the age of artist in the top ten was around 36 years old where in 2021 this was down to 26.
“This is a major achievement and confirms the role of the labels in discovering new talents, also helped by the Italian tax credit scheme which allowed the companies to recoup a 30 % of the investment.”
