Stock Music Market

Market Overview

The global stock music market size was worth USD 1.21 billion in 2022. It is estimated to reach an expected value of USD 2.82 billion in 2031, growing at a CAGR of 9.8% over the forecast period (2023 – 2031). The authenticity of products and services is highly attractive to consumers, particularly millennials, who have a strong affinity for technology and social media. This led marketers to forsake these extensive compilations of widely distributed audio content online and adopt authenticity as the fundamental principle of audio marketing. Such factors drive market growth.

Stock music is alternatively called music libraries or archives that can be licensed or royalty-free and are generally used by content creators. This music is pre-recorded, has no specific use, and can be used in TV, films, advertisements, video games, and corporate production. The expanding media and entertainment business has led to a notable increase in the user base of stock music in recent years. The preference for video, which is at the top of the list and is followed by interactive tools and other types of content, is reflected in changing surfing habits.

Market Dynamics

Market Drivers

Simplifying Licensing

The most complex step of selecting audio is often decoding licenses associated with each audio file. The requirements are extensive and perhaps overly broad, necessitating the exploration of a complex landscape of permissions, ranging from attribution to exploitable rights. Customers have always struggled with licensing music, dealing with tediousness, variables, differing interpretations, and expensiveness, which is a bottleneck for many. It can get in the way of the creative process. As a result, market participants are attempting to streamline this procedure. Moreover, authors and customers alike have sought to make licenses easier to understand and use after realizing that current ones are either overly tight or poorly drafted to accommodate long-term usage.

Furthermore, market players are creating use-for-everything, no-questions-asked licenses and licenses that allow the purchase of additional rights for use under a large selection of users and a larger audience. This prompts flexibility of use in the market. Moreover, some market players are making licenses hassle-free by minimizing the number of unnecessary steps involved in licensing. For instance, Premiumbeat devised its straightforward standard and premium licenses by condensing steps and removing coverage-related issues. It also included necessary sections such as loops, short versions, and the track. Such factors drive market growth.

Rising Demand for Authenticity

Incorporated into major brand assets and advertising, stock music from studios devoid of inclusion, diversity, and authenticity was the norm for marketing content. Most music failed to connect with its audience and failed to differentiate one brand from another because it was too familiar. They also stopped trusting ads because they were just background noise. As a result, marketing is undergoing a revolution with roots in authenticity. End-users of stock music are concerned about not coming out as a sell-out since the media and marketing industries are becoming more sophisticated.

Additionally, genuineness appeals to consumers, especially millennials, with their love of technology and social media. This prompted marketers to abandon these massive collections of widely shared audio content online and embrace authenticity as the foundation of audio marketing. However, the gamut of existing audio content that catered to this authentic style, which has long been restricted and turned meticulous customers away, has veered them toward commissioned and customized work. This led to huge losses as brands grappling with their branding material had to make significant sacrifices to ensure the uniqueness of their brands. These factors are driving a shift in the industry.

Market Restraint

Increasing Interest in Custom Music

Globally recognized brands seek ways to localize their offerings to build strong relationships with affluent consumers. In essence, they commission original music from cultural change agents, such as touring musicians who specialize in particular genres or local musicians who have significantly influenced their communities. Brands have been focusing on developing their worldwide footprint through cautious selection. For instance, the branding efforts of companies like Coca-Cola and Budweiser are influenced by music. As a result, consumers of music develop a passion for it.

Coca-Cola hired a company to write a brand anthem, while Budweiser organized yearly music festivals like Made in America. Stock music doesn't make sense in situations like these. Although some stock music producers attempt to provide localized tracks, most of these tracks are way ahead of time, discouraging listeners. The market for stock music now has a significant gap because of this localization requirement, and demand for stock music has somewhat decreased.

Market Opportunities

Growth of Platform Integration

With pretty much every business across the globe having some digital element and competing fiercely with each other, they are looking for a unified and fit-for-purpose approach that can make daunting or tedious processes smoother so that the projects remain on the rails. Therefore, there has been a high focus on interfaces and interactions between multiple systems in the landscape that can help streamline projects considerably. In the stock music market, platform integration is one such strategy that is becoming more and more common. It is growing in importance as a tool that offers a user-friendly search interface, making it simpler and quicker to use stock music by integrating music libraries into other apps.

Additionally, thanks to these in-program features, users can create items by efficiently employing their resources without leaving their workstations. These one-stop shops improve the efficiency of creators' work by greatly streamlining their creative processes. It also gives the author full control, which lowers the expense of obtaining content from outside sources and relieves users of the inconvenience caused by a complete stop because of reliance and delays. Such actions increase the market's affinity and open new avenues for expanding the distribution base.

Regional Analysis

Region-wise, the global stock music market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa.

North America Dominates the Global Market

North America is the most significant global stock music market shareholder and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 10.02% during the forecast period. Circular events, such as the Olympics and elections, have contributed significantly to the exponential rise in North American advertising during the previous six years. Technology has undeniably been a force for good, bringing about changes in the marketing industry. Due to the transfer of advertising dollars to Facebook and Google, magazines and newspapers are considering new survival methods. In addition, audio is in a good position to expand as Facebook and Google prepare for an increase in video content. North America also has the quickest rate of print channel abandonment among all developed economies, thanks to social media platforms that produce dynamic material that engages senses other than the visual one.

Furthermore, major cost-cutting imperatives are in place. They are investing in other revenue streams to live, moving into spaces such as video and podcasts. These trends are witnessing more focus on creating better user experiences using multimedia content. Moreover, new investment opportunities have emerged due to the widespread use of audiovisual and interactive storytelling. There are over 130 billion USD in advertising budgets, and over half of the top 100 North American marketers are based here, indicating a very lucrative industry. The demand for relevant stock material is driven by the top advertising spenders in retail, automotive, telecom, financial services, and restaurants. On the other hand, internet-centric plays like Amazon are predicted to rise the quickest.

Asia-Pacific is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 10.3% during the forecast period. Customer engagement and conversions in the region require a sophisticated strategy because the market has distinct behavioral factors. Therefore, instead of a channel-first approach, a content-first one is more predominant in Asia-Pacific. These factors translate to demand for a resource that can penetrate through layers of a diverse landscape, warranting imagery. This is posing a threat to market growth during the forecast period. However, in-store activations and digital efforts are being deployed. The marketing focus is largely on content and lead generation. Therefore, demand from social media to websites is widespread, driving demand for audio to accompany the video and sound effects to accompany UI/UX.

In Europe, film production grew by 47% over the last decade. Germany, France, the UK, Italy, and Spain emerged as the top five producing countries, totaling about 55% of the production in the entire region. About 68% of production growth from these five countries is expected to continue during the forecast period. In Eastern and Central Europe, on the other hand, series production is prospering, largely driven by US streaming platforms demanding more original content. Studios in Prague and Budapest have witnessed huge production growth, partly due to user-friendly incentives. Moreover, a new EU law is in place that warrants a streaming services guarantee, and a minimum of 30% of the content is EU-produced. It will also be mandatory to aid the platform in funding European productions. Therefore, Stock music is expected to grow during the forecast period.

Latin America is less advanced in the digital segment than most global economies. However, it is a developing digital economy with a rise in consumers accessing the internet through smartphones, making it the second-fastest-growing region after Sub-Saharan Africa. This signifies a huge potential for digital advertising expenditure. With consumers accessing the internet on smartphones, the growth will account for almost 50% in 2020, thereby increasing the digital advertising spending budget on mobile by 70%. This has created opportunities for advertisers and marketers, with more people interacting with online services, thereby spending more time browsing and shopping online.

Similarly, Brazil is the largest advertising market in the region, accounting for nearly 55% of the total spend. This is followed by Mexico and Argentina at 12% and 10%, respectively. Media spending is on the rise, with main channels being radio, internet, and TV advertising projecting strong growth. The demand thus is expected to come from stock content available across a wide variety of sizes, and the purchases are more likely to be either credit-based or royalty-free.

Segmental Analysis

The global stock music market has been segmented based on product, end-user, and license.

Based on product, the global stock music market is segmented into sound effects and tracks. 

The track segment dominates the global market and is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 10.8% during the forecast period. The age of personal creativity drives continuous expansion in the worldwide stock music industry by songs. There is a paradigm change happening in the market. The low-quality stock music that previously controlled the market kept great musicians out of the game, keeping track quality low. Genuine composers are reentering the area and boosting the industry standard, fueling the need for stock tracks as new business models balance the quality and the price. Moreover, the music track market has a wide range of offerings. It covers the full range of needs, from players working with well-known artists like Recall Express and Song Freedom to those providing tracks from essentially unknown musicians for low-budget purposes.

Based on end-users, the global stock music market is segmented into large businesses and SMEs.

The large businesses segment owns the highest market share and is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 9.8% during the forecast period. Growing demand for improving movie experience is expected to boost the large business stock music market during the forecast period. Common goals with stock music include building brand identity, inciting emotion, impacting decision-making, influencing mood, reducing cognitive load, and improving navigation. It is a common notion that the larger the business, the more the tendency to veer toward custom. However, most companies return to using stock music for reasons of efficiency and cost.

Audio branding, also known as sonic branding, is growing in popularity for companies to create distinctive musical identities, and audio marketing is playing an increasingly important role in innovative marketing initiatives. Understanding the significance of marketing tactics that make content easy to consume is the foundation for shifting digital content consumption preferences from passive, video-based to audio-based content. Due to this, the listen-and-feel era has supplanted the look-and-feel era, fostering audio branding where customers can quickly connect with the company. Thus, audio branding has advanced significantly since the days of conventional iconic jingles, radio commercials, and commercial ad music among major corporations.

Based on license, the global stock music market is segmented into royalty-free and licensed music.

The royalty-free segment dominates the global market and is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 9.7% during the forecast period. Royalty-free license models are widely used, although somewhere in the middle, the music gained a bad reputation for being dated, cheesy, and lacking in quality. Technological advances have armed modern music composers with more tools; hence, royalty-free music has come a long way. Many SMEs and individual creators find this model much more appealing and economical. The intensifying start-up culture in high-growth countries like India has also propelled the demand for royalty-free music.

Recent Developments

• June 2023 - Getty Images, a preeminent global visual content creator and marketplace, announced its collaboration with the Radiate Festival ahead of the 75th Windrush anniversary. A special walk-through open-air gallery titled Empire Windrush to Empire Black, sourced from Getty Images' Black History & Culture Collection (BHCC), will be available at Radiate Festival, 24_x005f_x001e_25 June in Burgess Park London.
• June 2023 - Getty Images, a preeminent global visual content creator and marketplace, was again named the Official Photographer of the Tribeca Festival, renewing a longstanding partnership with the foremost outlet for independent storytellers.