Written by Tim Ingham — Germany’s music industry – including live, recordings and publishing – generated revenues totalling €11 billion (US $12.3bn) last year.
New figures show that a total of 127,000 salaried employees and self-employed individuals are now active in the German music biz, bigger than the employment numbers of every other media sector.
In 2014, the German music industry’s gross value added (GVA) was roughly €3.9 billion ($4.4bn), higher than that of the film, radio and book and magazine publishing industries.
The UK music industry’s estimated GVA in 2013, for comparison’s sake, was €5.15bn (£3.8bn), despite Germany spending more on recorded music each year.
The German music biz’s GVA was led by live, with “music events” claiming 27% of the sum. “Music recordings” took 22% followed by “music instruments” (19%), “creatives” (15%), “music instruction” (10%), “music publishing” (5%) and “music collecting societies” (2%).
The figures come from a new report titled “The Music Industry in Germany”. The study contained in the report was carried out by the Institute for Communication Studies at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena (IfKWJ) under the direction of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Seufert. The study was co-commissioned by Germany’s most important music industry associations and funded by the Federal State of Hamburg and the Federal Ministry for Economics and Energy.
“THIS REPORT WILL ENABLE THE MUSIC INDUSTRY TO GAIN THE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT IT DESERVES IN GERMANY.”
OLAF SCHOLZ, HAMBURG
Olaf Scholz, Mayor of Hamburg: “Whether live, as physical recording or in digital form – music plays an enormous economic role.
“Here in Hamburg, we’ve known this for some time, seeing as our city continues to profit considerably from music, and especially from sub-sectors such as music tourism.
“This report will enable the industry to gain the acknowledgement it deserves in Germany as a key sector in the creative economy.”
Brigitte Zypries, Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy: “The report shows very clearly that the music industry is a major economic player in Germany.
“At the same time, the industry also plays a pioneering role in our current era of digital transformation.
“The music industry was one of the first creative sectors to be hit by the digital revolution, and today we can see that it has responded successfully to the challenge – with solid solutions that have allowed it to act far beyond the borders of its own industry.”
Roughly 1,300 companies representing a total turnover of €6 billion took part in the survey, which lasted between mid-March and the end of June 2015.
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