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Recorded Music

20 July 2010
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After ten years of top line decline, the total recorded music market stabilised in 2004 at $34.4 billion, but our view remains that specific factors rather than fundamental change in the key market and economic drivers explain this stabilisation. These specific factors included a 9% average retail price decline in the US leading to a 1.4% unit sales increase, a creative resurgence, and the adoption of digital sales by iPod enthusiasts. However, the CD format resumed its long-term decline in the second half of 2004 and we expect this decline to continue.

This price increase brings H3G much more into the fold of UK prepay pricing, putting its outgoing call prices on a par with Virgin Mobile, at a premium to easyMobile/Fresh, and at a much reduced discount to the larger operators.

Recent reports

Privacy delayed: Google shelves plans to deprecate Chrome cookies

25 July 2024

Google has permanently shelved the 2025 deadline for removing all third-party cookies from Chrome, but publishers should prepare for much higher rates of users blocking cookies. 

The online economy is still moving towards more privacy and user controls on the major platforms, with Android the next target for the Privacy Sandbox. 

Regulators are increasingly setting the terms online, limiting Google's freedom of movement, and with the conflict between competition and user privacy protections defining the next phase of the internet.

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OpenAI: Still leading the AI race?

23 July 2024

The next generation of the largest and most powerful 'frontier' AI models will be a key test for the pace of AI progress, with OpenAI's upcoming GPT-5 the most highly anticipated.

For OpenAI, the stakes are high, facing a growing assortment of rivals and with huge spend on training and running models to recoup. Staying at the cutting edge is key to justifying itself to the big tech backers on which it depends.

If OpenAI can deliver technology that matches its ambitious vision for what AI can be, it will be transformative for its own prospects, but also the economy more broadly. Falling short could be fatal.

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DAZN in preliminary deal for fourth major market: Ligue 1 rights value drops 14%

22 July 2024

After an arduous ten-month process, France’s Ligue 1 has reached a tentative deal to license its 2024-29 broadcasting rights at a price 14% down on the previous cycle.

Adding France (for €400 million p.a.), DAZN now has prominent positions in four out of the five big European markets. With a weekly top pick (for €100m p.a.), beIN consolidates its model.

Attention turns to distribution, and whether DAZN will patch up its partnership with Canal+.

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