Exploration Weekly - IMPEL Partners with CMRRA, SX Works / Streaming to Reach €2B in Germany / US Live Concert Interest Close to Pre-COVID Levels

Aaron Davis -



Indie music publisher organization IMPEL is now partnering in North America with CMRRA and SX Works to help IMPEL members manage their digital rights in Canada and in the US. CMRRA’s music publisher members will also be able to participate in IMPEL’s multi-territory licenses with streaming services in Europe and elsewhere.

According to a new report by collecting society GEMA, music streaming in Germany is expected to reach €2 billion this year. Approximately 45% of the German population are using music streaming services, with around two thirds of those people on paid subscriptions.

Luminate’s Music 360 study addresses an increase in live concert interest in the US with 36% of consumers saying that they plan on attending a concert in the following year, versus 15% who say they attended one concert in the previous year. Concert attendance, ticket sales, quarterly revenue, and other core business metrics are far exceeding pre-pandemic metrics from the same period.

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Compiled by Heidi Seo


Exploration Weekly - September 9, 2022

IMPEL Outlines Partnership in North America with CMRRA and SX Works

IMPEL – which helps independent music publishers to license and administer their digital rights – has announced new partnerships with CMRRA and SX Works, which will provide new support for the organization’s member publishers in North America. Under these agreements, IMPEL members will be able to manage their digital rights in Canada via CMRRA and in the US via SX Works. In some cases that means participating in digital licenses negotiated by those entities. Or – with audio streaming services in the US, where a compulsory license exists for mechanical rights – SX Works will manage each publisher’s relationship with the society that now administers said compulsory license, that being the MLC. It’s also a two way alliance, in that CMRRA’s music publisher members will now be able to participate in IMPEL’s multi-territory licenses with streaming services in Europe and elsewhere.

GEMA-Commissioned Study Explores Germany’s Music-Streaming Economy

Collecting society GEMA has commissioned a report from consultancy firm Goldmedia on music streaming in Germany. It addresses the market, stating that 45% of the German population are using music streaming services, with around two thirds of those people on paid subscriptions. It also suggests that Spotify is used by 28% of the German population, ahead of Amazon Music (14%), Apple Music and SoundCloud (both 6%), although YouTube’s free service outstrips them all with 58% penetration. Streaming is expected to be a €2bn market in Germany in 2022, but in the report’s survey of 4,278 GEMA members, it found that 89% of the music creators see the remuneration they get from streaming as ‘inadequate’.

Live Concert Interest in the US Nearing Pre-COVID Levels, New Study Shows

According to the most recent Music 360 study conducted in 30 countries by market monitor Luminate, in the US alone, 36% of consumers said they planned on attending a concert in the following year, versus 15% who said they attended one concert in the previous year. Adding to signs that live music has made a strong comeback in 2022 is the surge in searches for “concerts” on Google. The volume of searches for that keyword has aligned almost close to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels after falling softly during the Omicron surge earlier this year. The data backed up Live Nation Entertainment’s latest quarterly report showing that concert attendance, ticket sales, quarterly revenue and other core business metrics far exceeded pre-pandemic metrics from the same period, Luminate said.

India’s Short-Video Market Tipped to Reach $19 Billion by 2030

Consultancy firm Redseer recently announced that India’s short-video market will be worth $19 billion by 2030. Bloomberg uses this number as the jump-off for an analysis of how the local apps are competing with the global giants, while also making the sharp observation that Alphabet’s involvement in the market is about more than Shorts: it is also “funding and grooming” four of the biggest Indian apps. Vice President and Managing Director of Meta in India, Ajit Mohan, states that YouTube and Instagram see India as “a testing ground for their algorithms, influencer campaigns and content experiments that can be exported to the US”.

Sam Smith and Normani Again Call for Dismissal of “Dancing With a Stranger” Song-Theft Lawsuit

Legal reps for Sam Smith and Normani have again called for a song theft lawsuit in relation to their song “Dancing With A Stranger” to be dismissed. An amended version of that lawsuit, they argue, doesn’t address the issues they previously raised about the song-theft claim. Smith, Normani, and various other parties were sued earlier this year by artist Jordan Vincent and producer Christopher Miranda who claim that “Dancing With A Stranger” rips off their 2015 song “Dancing With Strangers”. Smith and Normani’s team filed a motion to dismiss in July. Vincent and Miranda filed an amended lawsuit in August, which the Smith/Normani side have now responded to.

Random Ramblings

  • The value of legacy artists’ music videos today.
  • New report finds prolific racial and gender disparities across UK radio stations.
  • Why 80s music is cooler than you think.
  • How Roxy Music went from "inspired amateurs" to Art rock pioneers.
  • Hong Kong’s Andy Lau smashes global live-stream concert record with 350m viewers on China’s Tiktok.

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