Skip to main content

Indie Labels Could Take More Market Share

Reuters reports that the music industry has delayed publishing its global market share figures because of supposed squabbles over the methodology for counting digital sales.

The disagreement comes at a time when the industry is facing growing criticism that it is controlled by too few companies. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the music sector's global trade group, released its annual compendium of 2005 industry data -- with the market share figures omitted.

The four major music companies -- Vivendi's Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI Group and Warner Music -- account for about three of every four albums sold in the world.

The IFPI said its members were still tussling over how to account for digital sales, and that the figures would be released later in the year. By that time the information will be nearly a year out of date. The trade body said there were no market share figures to disclose as yet because it had not yet collected them for 2005.

"They're basically recalculating the way they do it because of the rise of digital," IFPI spokesman Alex Jacob said. But, could there be yet another reason? Is it possible that the continued growth of the independent labels has created a PR problem for the majors -- because it sends a very troubling message to their investors?

As an example, according to the IFPI's 2004 data, the latest year for which information is available, Universal's global share was 25.5 percent, Sony BMG 21.5 percent, EMI 13.4 percent, Warner 11.3 percent and the independent labels 'collectively' at 28.4 percent (i.e. more than any one of the majors).

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Talent Demand Exceeds Supply in Asia-Pac

Even the savviest CEO's desire for a digital transformation advantage has to face the global market reality -- there simply isn't enough skilled and experienced talent available to meet demand. According to the latest market study by IDC, around 60-80 percent of Asia-Pacific (AP) organizations find it "difficult" or "extremely difficult" to fill many IT roles -- including cybersecurity, software development, and data insight professionals. Major consequences of the skills shortage are increased workload on remaining digital business and IT employees, increased security risks, and loss of "hard-to-replace" critical transformation knowledge. Digital Business Talent Market Development Although big tech companies' layoffs are making headlines, they are not representative of the overall global marketplace. Ongoing difficulty to fill key practitioner vacancies is still among the top issues faced by leaders across industries. "Skills are difficul

Mobile Device Market Still Awaiting Recovery

The mobile devices market has experienced three years of unpredictable demand. The global pandemic, geopolitical pressures, supply chain issues, and macroeconomic headwinds have hindered the sector's consistent growth potential. This extremely challenging environment has dramatically affected both demand and supply chains. It has led to subsequent inflationary pressures, leading to a worsening global cost of living crisis suppressing growth and confidence in the sector. In tandem, mobile device industry stakeholders have become more cautious triggering market uncertainties. Mobile Device Market Development Operating under such a backdrop, the development of mobile device ecosystems and vendor landscapes have been impacted severely. Many of these market pressures persisted throughout 2022 and now into 2023, borne chiefly by the smartphone market. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, worldwide smartphone shipments in 2022 declined 9.6 percent Year-over-Year

Global Digital Business and IT Consulting Outlook

Across the globe, CEOs and their leadership teams continue to seek information and guidance about planned Digital Transformation initiatives and the most effective enterprise organization change management practices. Worldwide IT and Business Services revenue will grow from $1.13 trillion in 2022 to $1.2 trillion in 2023 -- that's a 5.7 percent year-over-year growth, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The mid-term to long-term outlook for the market has also increased -- the five-year CAGR is forecast at 5.2 percent, compared to the previous 4.9 percent. Digital Sevices & Consulting Market Development IDC has raised the growth projection despite a weak economic outlook, because of vendor performances across 2022, growth indicators from adjacent markets, increased government funding, and inflation impacts. The actual 2022 market growth was 6.7 percent (in constant currency), which was 87 basis points higher than forecast last year, alth