The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has released its annual report, detailing what happened in the music industry worldwide in 2018.

Titled “Global Music Report 2019: State of the Industry”, the report says that the worldwide music industry saw revenue grow by 9.7% in 2018, totalling US$19.1 billion. This is the fourth straight year of growth and the highest rate of growth since IFPI began tracking the market in 1997.

Streaming grew by 34% to make up 47% of global revenue, up from last year’s 38%. This was driven by a 32.9% growth in paid subscriptions. At the end of 2018, there were 255 million users of paid streaming services worldwide, accounting for 37% of global revenue. Combined with downloads, the digital sector account for 58.9% of global revenue.

However, download revenue fell by 21.2% to make up 12% of global revenue, while physical revenue fell by 10.1% to make up 25% of global revenue. The remaining revenue streams were comprised of performance rights at 14% and synchronization rights 2%. Both of these percentages didn’t move from 2017.

For the fourth year in a row, Latin America was the fastest growing region, with an increase of 16.8%. This was boosted by the growth of Brazil with a 15.4% increase and by Mexico with a 14.7% increase.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Asia and Australasia region grew. The increase in 2018 was 11.7%, beating last year’s 5.4% increase, allowing the region to become the second largest region for combined physical and digital revenue. Digital revenue rose by 26.8%, with streaming leading the way with a 29.5% increase, offsetting the continual decline in download revenue, which fell 7.1% in 2018. South Korea’s increase of 17.9% and Australia’s increase of 11% pushed the growth of the Asia and Australasia region.

The top 10 music markets in order are the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, South Korea, China, Australia, Canada, and Brazil.

Japan is still the second largest music market in the world. It saw revenue increase by 3.4% in 2018, after last year’s decline of 2.9%, which interrupted two consecutive years of growth beforehand. This growth was driven by 32.6% growth in streaming and a 2.3% growth in physical. Physical made up 71% of Japan’s revenue in 2018, down 1% from the previous year.

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