The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) released their 2023 Global Music Report on Tuesday (March 21) and one of the findings relevant to the Caribbean is that every music market in the Latin American Region (Including Jamaica) grew by 25.9% in 2022. The music industry is experiencing an ‘8th consecutive year of growth’ globally.
WMV reached out to the respected group that is a leading voice of the recording industry worldwide for clarification on whether reggae’s homeland Jamaica specifically grew by more than 25% and their quick Tuesday afternoon response was, “The figure is for the overall Latin American region (and the Caribbean is included within this).” They further stated via email that, “We don’t currently split out data on Jamaica so we can’t confirm growth rate for that market specifically.”
IFPI and its National Group network represents the interests of some 8,000 members across the globe.
With streams accounting for more than 67% of music consumption globally, more Jamaica acts emerged last year due to the full integration of digital streaming platforms in the Island. Valiant, who got a break from a TikTok post in November has been leading on Apple Music for the last five months. He is the first artist in the history of Jamaica’s music to have 12 songs in the top 20 on any streaming platform.
Apple Music Jamaica Top 20 (March 20) @Valiant_Musiq on a 5 month lead at the top. He is the first artist to have 12 songs in the top 20. pic.twitter.com/ZDmClIJg3f
— WMV (@worldmusicviews) March 20, 2023
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The fusion of Jamaican artist with latin singers and producers has also produced much interest in the last year both in the region and in the US. Just last Friday, the Spanish reggae fusion track “Celebration” by Maffio, Farruko, Akon featuring Ky-Mani Marley was certified Latin Gold by the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA). The Spanish reggae song released October 4, 2019 has surpassed sales of 30,000 units in the U.S.
Last November, in IFPI’s Engaging With Music Report 2022 based on a survey of more than 33 thousand respondents from several countries Reggae music came in as the 10th most listened genre of music globally. it fell below genres like Country which comes in at No. 9 and Soundtracks which come in a No. 8.
Pop, Rock and Hip Hop took the top three positions respectively with Dance/Electronic , Latin, Classic/Opera , and R&B coming in at number 4,5,6 and 7 respectively.
Elsewhere, the report found that Sub Saharan Africa is the fastest growing region for recorded music globally with a 34.7% increase in 2022 with South Africa music market alone growing by 31.4%.
The United States which is the top music market globally surpassed $10 billion in recored music earnings for the first time reflecting a growth of 4.8%. Following the US is Japan, UK, Germany, China, France, K-Pop haven South Korea, Canada, Brazil made a re-entry and Australia rounds out the top ten biggest music marts globally.
With the exception of digital downloads, all music consumption formats increased globally in 2022.
The report stated, “Global revenues from streaming saw double-digit growth (+11.5%) and reaching US$17.5 billion. Revenues from subscription streaming grew by 10.3% globally, reaching US$12.7 billion in 2022.
Of note although physicals only accounted 4.6%, the industry is seeing its highest returns of over $4 billion more than 1999 when Physical cds and Vinyl sales accounted for $22.3 billion.
