Latin America’s status as the fastest growing region in terms of digital growth in 2012 and the second fastest growing region in terms of performance rights income were central points of the speech delivered by IFPI’s Frances Moore at the Filaie/IFPI Latin American and Caribbean Regional Meeting June 25 in Bogotá. Filaie (Iber American Federation of Artists and Performers), created in 1981, looks after the interests of artists and culture in the Americas.
In her speech to industry representatives and government officials, Moore spoke about the challenges facing the industry, namely digital piracy and copyright reform. But overwhelmingly, her talk painted a picture of optimism for a music industry that is poised for growth and innovation.
“In my time as CEO of IFPI I have had to give many speeches on the doom and gloom of the recording industry,” she said. “But today is different and we can afford to be more upbeat. This is a very exciting time for the music industry.”
Key points from Moore’s presentation included:
-After a 13 year struggle, the recording industry has adapted to the Internet world and has learned to monetise the digital marketplace.
-More than 30% of revenues come from digital channels with that figure increasing to more than 50% in some leading markets.
-Subscription services were up more than 60% globally in 2012.
-Revenues in Latin America have grown by 12% from last year, making it the fastest growing region in terms of digital growth in 2012. It was also the second fastest growing region in terms of performance rights income.
-For producers, performance rights income now accounts for 9% of industry revenues across the region, increasing to 17% in Argentina and Colombia, 28% in Uruguay and an astonishing 61 per cent in Peru.
-YouTube is the second largest source of digital revenues across the region for the recording industry, despite not being monetised in several markets.
-Spotify, which already edged out iTunes as the largest revenue source for the industry in Spain, has opened in Mexico.
The challenges, said Moore, are twofold:
-First, digital piracy remains a very significant problem in Latin America. IFPI figures show that 40% of internet users regularly access unlicensed sites, a figure that is higher than elsewhere in the global market.
-And the technology lobby in many countries has attempted to undermine copyright law.
The solution, ended Moore, lies in collaboration between rights holders, a bigger communications and public relations effort, and support from governments and ISPS.
“A we move into this new phase, we must think not of the short term but of sustained growth of our industry,” punctuated Moore. “There are still very significant barriers to achieving this sustained growth. Piracy. The campaign to weaken copyright. Lack of basic rights in some markets. Lack of understanding by policy makers and others of copyright and the value of music. We need to meet these challenges. And we need to meet them, where we can, together as music rights holders, performers, producers, authors and publishers together.”