Recorded music sales and music licencing in Australia, 2000-2011

Abstract

The article highlights in the first part the Australian recorded music market, which has lost 55 % of its volume (adjusted for inflation) since 2001. The main reason for the overall decline lies in the shrinking CD market segment, whereas the booming market for digital music cannot compensate for the loss in the physical market segment. This development was not mainly caused by music file sharing practices, but by a change from an album-based to a track-based music consumption behaviour. In the second part of the article the economic performance of the three Australian music collecting societies - APRA, AMCOS and PPCA - is highlighted. The analysis shows that the mechanical rights society - AMCOS - suffers from the digital paradigm shift in the music industry, whereas APRA and PPCA profit from increasing revenue from broadcasting, public performance and digital/online licensing fees.