Global creator royalties rose 11.3% to a record EUR 15.5 billion in 2025. Digital collections grew 27.9% and accounted for 42.4% of the worldwide total.
The reported total includes collections from The Mechanical Licensing Collective for the first time. Those collections accounted for approximately 52% of the annual increase, so the headline growth rate is not a like-for-like comparison.
- Digital: EUR 6.57 billion, up 27.9%.
- Live and background: EUR 3.87 billion, up 7.7%. This includes collections from concerts and festivals, as well as music played in public venues such as shops, restaurants, hotels and gyms.
- TV and radio: EUR 3.82 billion, down 2.6%.
Live and background overtook TV and radio to become the second-largest source of creator royalty collections. The global total is now nearly EUR 7 billion above its 2016 level.
