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Germany’s recorded music commerce group says it nonetheless sees potential upside forward, regardless of a slowdown within the progress charge of recorded music gross sales.
The German Music Trade Affiliation (BVMI) says recorded music gross sales within the first half of 2025 hit EUR €1.157 billion (USD $1.36 billion on the common trade charge for Q2 2025),on a retail foundation. That’s up 1.4% from the identical interval a yr earlier.
Provided that Germany’s year-on-year inflation charge has been operating at round 2% in latest months, this means that, on an inflation-adjusted foundation, retail music gross sales shrank barely in H1.
The most recent numbers signify a major slowdown from H1 2024, when recorded gross sales rose by 7.6% YoY.
The H1 2025 numbers had been considerably stronger for digital music gross sales particularly (streaming and a la carte downloads), which rose 3.9% YoY.
Nonetheless, that progress was partly offset by a 13.2% YoY decline in bodily gross sales (vinyl and CDs), with CD gross sales dropping 20.1% YoY.
The numbers replicate a normal malaise in Germany’s economic system, which has stagnated previously a number of years primarily as a consequence of excessive vitality costs. Nonetheless, after near-zero progress in 2023 and 2024, there have been indicators of a pickup just lately. The nation’s actual (inflation-adjusted) GDP grew 0.3% in Q2 2025.
Dr. Florian Drücke, Chairman & CEO of BVMI, stays optimistic in regards to the recorded music enterprise going ahead.
“As an business, we’re at present in an thrilling part in which there’s nonetheless potential for progress, even in developed markets comparable to Germany,” he mentioned in an announcement on Thursday (July 24).
“On this atmosphere characterised by big technological leaps, our business is especially reliant on European legislators maintaining a tally of the authorized framework for future digital enterprise areas. This at present consists of the constant continuation of the trail taken with the AI Regulation so as to allow the digital license enterprise.”
“We’re at present in an thrilling part in which there’s nonetheless potential for progress, even in developed markets comparable to Germany.”
Dr. Florian Drücke, BVMI
Massive elements of the European Union’s AI Act will come into drive in early August, and earlier this month the European Fee unveiled a voluntary Code of Observe for AI corporations, designed to assist them keep away from regulatory burdens from the Act.
The Code’s ideas embody tips on how AI corporations accumulate copyrighted content material on-line, requiring them to not circumvent restrictions positioned by rightsholders on web-scraping of information. The Code additionally requires them to keep away from amassing materials from copyright-infringing sources comparable to digital piracy web sites.
Most of the most distinguished AI corporations, together with Anthropic, Microsoft and OpenAI, have dedicated to abiding by the Code, though Fb and Instagram proprietor Meta Platformshas mentioned it received’t signal on.
Some facets of the EU’s AI rules have confirmed controversial with rightsholders, as an example the “opt-out” mechanism that requires copyright house owners to explicitly state that they don’t need their content material for use to coach AI.
That regulation final yr prompted each Sony Music Group and Warner Music Group to ship out letters to AI builders informing them that they’re opting out of getting their supplies used to coach AI.
German performing rights assortment society GEMA has been on the forefront of music business our bodies calling for a licensing market that may allow artists and music corporations to be paid for the usage of their music in coaching AI.
“We’re ready to barter honest phrases of use and remuneration fashions with the AI corporations,” GEMA’s Christina von Gemmingen-Hornbergmentioned final yr.Music Enterprise Worldwide
