Forum report shows impressive growth in music industry

The 10th Music Industry Forum, hosted by the Communication University of China, was held in Beijing on June 6.

The forum released the 2025 China Music Industry Development Annual Report, which shows that the total scale of China's music industry reached approximately 492.9 billion yuan ($68.59 billion) in 2024, marking a year-on-year growth of 4.97 percent.

In 2024, the overall market size of music performances reached 38.7 billion yuan, marking a year-on-year growth of 46.6 percent. Among this, ticket revenue from live houses and professional theaters is approximately 9 billion yuan, reflecting a year-on-year increase of 5.5 percent. The ticket revenue from large and medium-sized concerts and music festivals amounts to 29.6 billion yuan, showing a growth of 66.5 percent, making it the core driving force behind music performance box office revenues.

In 2024, the digital music industry reached a scale of 102.7 billion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 15 percent. Online music, music short videos, and music livestreaming together drive the digital music industry's growth. The number of online music users will reach 729 million, with the number of paid users continuing to grow. Online music service revenue is expected to grow by more than 20 percent year-on-year.

The forum discussed topics, such as the reshaping of music copyright ecology, content production and distribution, the path to success for young musicians and live music performances.

Over 100 industry experts from both home and abroad attended the conference to exchange experiences across various areas, including industry ecology, technological innovation, copyright brokerage, music performance, education and training, and professional talent development.

The 2025 China Music Industry Development Annual Report was written by the project team led by Zhao Zhi'an, director of the music industry development research center at the Communication University of China. Since 2014, this annual research report has been published 10 times.