Italy’s recorded music market – the third largest in the European Union, behind Germany and France – saw an 8.5% year-on-year increase in revenue in 2024, driven by a 17.1% increase in subscription streaming revenues.
That’s according to the latest recorded music market report from the Federation of the Italian Music Industry (FIMI), released on Wednesday (March 19).
Overall recorded music revenue grew to EUR €461.2 million (USD $499.1 million at the average exchange rate for 2024), as measured by trade value. Of the total revenues, 44.4%, or €204.9 million ($221.8 million), came from subscription streaming, the single largest market segment.
Ad-supported streaming revenues grew by a relatively tepid 0.4% YoY to €50.5 million ($54.7 million), which was exceeded by video streaming at €52.7 million ($57.0 million), up 14.1% YoY.
Notably, FIMI reported earlier this year that ad-supported streaming volume grew by 53.1% YoY in 2024, implying a considerable decline in per-stream ad revenue. Meanwhile, subscription streaming volume rose 14.3% YoY, less than the 17.1% increase in revenue, suggesting that price hikes at digital service providers drove some of the increase.
“These data confirm the growing interest of Italian consumers in subscription-based models, which offer unlimited access to increasingly larger and more diversified catalogs,” FIMI said.
The total number of streams (subscription and ad-supported) grew 31% YoY to 95 billion.
Other sources of revenue showed mixed results, with neighboring rights rising 2.6% YoY to €74.8 million ($81.0 million), while synchronization rights fell 4.8% YoY to €12.9 million ($14.0 million).
The drop in synch rights “is the result of an increasingly intense competition in the music licensing market and a slight reduction in investments in this area,” FIMI said.
Digital downloads fell 12.7% YoY to €3.9 million ($4.22 million), while physical media declined 2.1% YoY to €61.3 million ($66.3 million). Within physical media, only vinyl saw revenue growth – up 6.8% YoY to €38.9 million ($42.1 million).
FIMI attributed the decline in physical media to a shift in government policy, with the replacement of Italy’s Culture Bonus for youth with two new “Culture Cards” available to qualifying young adults. FIMI said the new Culture Cards “have provided less incentive for purchasing recorded music.”
The Culture Cards, available to those who have turned 18 years old and who qualify under either an academic achievement threshold or a household income threshold, provide €500 to spend on cultural activities and products. The government has capped the total spend on the cards to €190 million per year.
FIMI reported strong growth in both Italian recorded music exports and in the popularity of local music. Exports expanded by 13.8% YoY to €27.95 million ($30.25 million), with much of that growth coming from digital exports, up 24.4% YoY.
Over the past five years, Italian recorded music exports have grown by 140%, FIMI noted.
“Overall, the Italian record market confirms its highly dynamic nature, with prospects for further growth driven by technological innovation and new models of music consumption.”
FIMI
Like many other markets – particularly in Latin America and Europe – local music acts are seeing rapidly growing market share in Italy. Over the past 10 years, local repertoire has gone from holding 59% of the spots on FIMI’s annual charts to 84%.
FIMI notes a “generational turnover” happening in Italy’s music scene: The average age of artists appearing in the annual top 10 charts has decreased by more than 30% over the past decade.
This has led to a rise in consumption of new releases and a decline in the popularity of catalog music – 82% of streams in 2024 were of music released in or after 2010.
“Overall, the Italian record market confirms its highly dynamic nature, with prospects for further growth driven by technological innovation and new models of music consumption,” FIMI said.Music Business Worldwide
