Richard Burgess: Music Industry Must Better Monetize Growing Global Audience to Survive
Richard Burgess, outgoing President and CEO of A2IM, shares key insights about music industry monetization challenges and opportunities during his final SXSW appearance.
During his 10-year tenure at A2IM, Burgess achieved significant milestones including increased board diversity, improved industry relationships, and advocacy for the Protect Working Musicians Act (PWMA), which enables joint negotiations between artists, labels, and other industry stakeholders.
Burgess highlights a crucial revenue challenge: despite massive audience growth, the music industry's revenue remains 35-40% below 1999 levels when adjusted for inflation. He argues that streaming platforms are undermonetizing music, suggesting subscription prices should align with video streaming services like Netflix.
Key observations about current market dynamics:
- Independent labels generate 42% of revenue from physical formats (vinyl, CDs)
- Major labels earn less than 10% from physical formats
- Streaming has democratized music distribution globally
- Music subscriptions are undervalued compared to video services
On emerging markets:
- India shows potential with 80% ad-supported listeners
- Growing domestic revenues in developing markets
- Increased global exposure for local artists through streaming
- New opportunities in merchandising and physical formats
Burgess emphasizes the importance of proper monetization to sustain the music industry: "We need to make sure that we don't kill the art of making music."
Man on couch
67th Grammy Awards stage and audience