Photo Credit: Michele Bitetto
Music industry umbrella organization the Federation of the Italian Music Industry (FIMI) has revealed that Italian recorded music revenues grew 18.8% in 2023.
Italian music recorded revenues topped €440 million ($477.87M) in 2023, one of the highest growth rates in the world. FIMI also reveals that this pushes Italy into the third-largest music market in the European Union. The growth in Italy is driven primarily by streaming—which accounts for 65% of market share with streaming revenues growing 16.2% last year to top €287 million ($311.68M). There are now over 6.5 million premium music subscribers in Italy, a rise of 9% compared to 2022.
Revenues from subscriptions to streaming platforms have led the sector, with the premium segment growing by 18.4% with more than €190 million ($206.34M) in revenues. For the digital area, the download segment saw a significant decrease of 11.8% in 2023.
FIMI also highlights the IFPI Engaging with Music report, specifically that Italian consumers spent around 20.9 hours per week listening to music in 2023. 60% of that time is spent listening to digital music, equally divided between DSPs like Spotify and short or long-form video formats like TikTok and YouTube. 73% of Italian consumers listened to music on licensed DSPs, either with a subscription or through ad-supported listening.
The physical segment in Italy also reported growth, positioning the market as the 8th biggest worldwide. Physical recorded music revenues in Italy brought in €62 million ($67.33M) for a 14.4% increase. Physical sales now account for 14% of market share in the country, with vinyl leading the physical sector (24.3%). CDs also experienced a small growth spurt of 3.8% for the year.
FIMI says the impact of the Italian Government Culture Bonus has played a central role in helping the Italian music market expand. The bonus raised €11 million ($11.95M) and the overall impacted on the recorded music market in the past seven editions is €122 million ($132.51M).
FIMI highlights that 80% of the albums in the Top 100 for the country are Italians, a figure that was only 63% in 2013. 793 albums reached the 10 million streaming threshold for the Italian Tax Credit, compared to just 235 titles in 2022. In 2012, only 137 albums reached the threshold, representing 479% growth over ten years.
Performance rights grew by 42.6% to reach almost €73 million ($79.29M), while synchronization rights saw an increase of 3.5%, reaching €13 million ($14.12M). Meanwhile, revenues from the export of Italian music grew by 20% in 2023 for a total royalty income of more than €26 million ($28.24M).
