The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) has released its latest report, indicating that global royalty collections for creators reached a historical high point of €12.1b (Shs49.2 trillion) in 2022. 

This represents a record 26.7 percent growth and, perhaps, a full recovery from the pandemic. According to the 2023 Global Collections Report, collections are now 19.8 percent higher than their pre-pandemic level, driven by continued strong growth in digital income and a recovery in live and public performance. 

Digital collections, boosted by continued growth of streaming and subscription, rose to €4.2b (Shs17 trillion). Digital income has doubled since the pre-Covid level of 2019 and is now, for the first time, creators’ biggest income stream, overtaking TV and radio, with 35 percent of total collections. 

Royalties from live and public performance, including concerts, background, exhibitions and theatres rose by 69.9 percent to €2.7b (Shs10.9 trillion). The sector, however, fell short of complete recovery, remaining 7.9 percent below its pre-pandemic level as local events and smaller venues still struggled to match the recovery in international tours and big festivals.

Rebalanced streams
In a significant rebalancing of income streams since the start of the pandemic, digital collections are up by 100 percent, TV and radio up 4.6 percent and live and public performance down by 7.9 percent on their pre-Covid levels of 2019.

All regions and all repertoires saw collections growth in 2022. Drama was the fastest-growing repertoire in 2022, with royalties increasing by 89.4 percent after being pummelled by lockdown restrictions. 

Despite this, drama was the only repertoire to remain below its 2019 level. Every other sector saw growth. Music collections, the largest segment, rose a record 28 percent to €10.8b (Shs43.9 trillion), 21.4 percent up in 2019. 

For the first time, digital became the largest source of revenue for creators, driven by continued growth of subscription streaming and renewed or new licensing deals by societies. 

Collections from the digital use of creators’ works increased by 33.5 percent in 2022 to €4.2b (Shs17 trillion), boosted mainly by continued growth in music streaming and subscription video on demand (SVOD). 

No pandemic brakes
Royalties from the live and public performance sector, including concerts, background, exhibitions and theatres, increased by 69.9 percent in 2022 as festivals, music tours and businesses reopened. 

Total collections for composers and songwriters increased by 28.0 percent in 2022 to exceed €10b (Shs40.7 trillion) for the first time. Strong streaming subscription income helped digital collections rise by a record 33.5 percent to become the largest income stream for music creators. 

The five-year trend of creators’ major royalty streams shows the sharply reversed fortunes of live and background as well as digital over the last five years. Digital went up by 154.3 percent as live and background went down by 2.8 percent since 2018. 

Elsewhere, broadcast has remained largely flat during the pandemic, with the resilience of TV and radio playing a key part in the recovery of the whole sector in 2022. 

Commenting on the report Gadi Oron, the CISAC director general, said: “This is a remarkable return to growth as our whole sector fully recovers from the disastrous three-year pandemic. While live and public performance have bounced back strongly, the recovery is driven most of all by digital, which has now become creators’ largest source of income.”

Oron added: “Streaming and subscription have not just revived the status quo; they have transformed the market, changed the game for creators and paved the way for future growth.” 

According to the report, every region saw growth in 2022 with Europe remaining the largest at more than half the global total. Strong growth in North America slightly narrowed the gap to second place whilst revenues in Latin America increased by 66.1 percent, helped by the trebling of live and background income.
 
African picture
Creators’ collections in Africa grew by 10.1 percent in 2022, recovering to their pre-pandemic level of €76m (Shs309b). TV and radio collections remained the largest sector with 43.8 percent of the total and were helped by increased income in South Africa from radio advertising revenues and commercial TV. 

Broadcast royalty income in the region grew 11.5 percent to €33m (Shs134.2b), two-thirds of which comes from South Africa. An eight-fold increase in Zimbabwe added almost €2.5m (Shs10.2b) to the total. Broadcast revenue in Cameroon also grew, rising almost four-fold due to back payments by users. 

Income from live events and the use of music by businesses makes up 22.6 percent of African collections and grew by more than one-quarter in 2022. The largest contributors to this rise were Angola where revenues leaped five-fold as collections restarted, and Côte d’Ivoire where a 23.2 percent rise in the live and background sector drove national growth of 2.7 percent. 

Despite this annual growth, the regional total for live and background remains 4.3 percent below the pre-pandemic level. In South Africa, income grew by 5.5 percent in 2022 but remained nearly one-fifth down in 2019, with many businesses struggling to recover post-lockdown. Whilst background music grew, local society the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO) reported cinema and live event revenues falling by 94 percent and 67 percent respectively during the year. 

Untapped digital
Digital income makes up 17.0 percent of the regional collections total but grew by just +2.4 per cent in 2022. In South Africa, where 72.4 percent of these collections are made, a large five-year video on demand (VOD) back payment received the previous year slowed growth in 2022 to 2.1 percent. Elsewhere, Algeria and Côte d’Ivoire saw real declines in these revenues. The Africa region again has the lowest digital market share of any region. 

Private copying was the fourth largest income sector but fell by 11.4 percent across the eight countries in which it is collected in Africa. This was driven by a 17.7 percent drop in Morocco where more than half of these revenues are collected, and by a three-quarter decrease in Algeria. 

Burkina Faso, however, saw growth with private copying more than doubling and driving a 50.9 percent increase in the country total. 

Background
The Global Collections Report is CISAC’s annual statistical overview of authors’ societies global collections on behalf of creators. The report provides comprehensive detailed analysis of collections by repertoire, region and income stream. It also analyses the trends and the key drivers behind them. 

The report is compiled based on the exclusive data reported to CISAC by its 225 member Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) in 116 countries/territories and five regions. These CMOs represent over five million creators active in five major repertoires: music, audiovisual, visual arts, literature and drama.