CBC - Competitors

CBC Competition

Now Viewing CBC's competition in: Music Production and Distribution

Recent Developments

Vinyl Records Here to Stay - With physical CD sales declining, record companies are closely watching the return to popularity of vinyl records, which used to be the industry standard, but are now only a small percentage of sales. Vinyl shipments rose nearly 37 percent in 2007 compared to 2006, primarily due to dedicated supporters who argue that music sounds better on a record than on a CD. Several record companies are putting out past hits on vinyl for collectors, and producing vinyl copies for new albums along with CDs.

Music Companies Push for More Gaming Royalties - Music production companies currently receive both initial fees and royalty payments for songs used in the popular music video games "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero." Some in the industry want additional royalties as the games grow more popular. Gaming experts predict sales growth of 35 percent for music games in 2009 compared to 2008. Growth in the music game segment is attractive in light of sales declines for other music mediums.

Music Looks to Gamers to Grow Revenue - While music production companies increasingly profit from royalties for song licenses in music video games, they're also working on a new distribution method that makes music videos available for purchase through video game systems that connect to the Internet. Users of Microsoft's Xbox 360 can now download music videos for just under $2. Warner Music Group music is available on Xbox, with other music labels to follow, according to Xbox executives.

Competitive Landscape

Demand is driven by consumer spending. The profitability of individual companies depends on discovering and promoting new musical talent and generating revenue from the company’s asset base of recordings and publications. Large companies have advantages in marketing and distribution. Smaller companies, referred to as Indies, compete by focusing on artists within local markets or music genres. The industry is capital-intensive: average annual revenue per employee is about $475,000.

Full Industry Overview For Music Production and Distribution

Music Production and Distribution Industry Forecast

from Hoover's/D&B subsidiary First Research

The output of US sound recording industries is forecast to grow at an annual compounded rate of 3.7 percent between 2007 and 2012.

Sound Recording Growth Steadies

First Research forecasts are based on INFORUM forecasts that are licensed from the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. (IERF) in College Park, MD. INFORUM's "interindustry-macro" approach to modeling the economy captures the links between industries and the aggregate economy.