Despite last year’s challenges in the music business — from generative AI songs breaking onto the charts to the growing issue of streaming fraud — overall recorded music revenues accelerated globally in 2025, marking the 11th straight year of growth, according to the IFPI’s latest figures. For the first time, global music revenue topped the $30 billion mark, with gains across every top region of the world, from the U.S. and Canada to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Overall, the report showed that subscription streaming remained the biggest revenue driver in 2025, accounting for more than half of global revenue. The number of paid subscribers increased to 837 million, up from 752 million just one year prior.

While the U.S. remained the No. 1 music market worldwide, accounting for 38.7% of all revenue, its rate of growth (3.3%) paled in comparison to other top 10 markets like China, Mexico and Brazil, which saw double-digit gains. All of which shows just how truly global the music industry has become.

Below, check out six big takeaways from this year’s IFPI report.

Overall revenue growth accelerated, largely thanks to gains in Asia. 

The IFPI’s last annual report showed that global revenue growth slowed to 4.7% in 2024, roughly half the rate of the previous year — leading some to fear that recorded music revenues were in danger of plateauing. However, this year’s report may bring some measure of relief, as revenue growth accelerated to 6.4% in 2025 — a small but significant gain. 

A good chunk of that growth seems to have come from Asia, where recorded music revenue increased nearly tenfold — from 1.3% in 2024 to 10.9% last year. This was driven in large part by massive revenue gains in China and a rebound in the world’s second-largest music market, Japan, where growth essentially flattened in 2024 (-0.2%) before increasing to 8.9% last year. (Japan, a market that is still heavily reliant on physical sales, still has a long way to go in terms of digital growth, though it faces some cultural and institutional obstacles to achieving that.) In fact, Asia was one of only two regions — alongside the U.S./Canada — where growth gained momentum in 2025.  

China overtook Germany as the world’s fourth-largest music market.

China and Germany swapped spots on this year’s list of the top 10 music markets, demonstrating the power of the still-emerging Chinese market, where revenue grew 20.1% in 2025 — more than double the previous year. With a population of approximately 1.4 billion people, China is a massive, and relatively young, market, where a wealth of potential paying subscribers remains untapped.

Those paid subscribers are growing — not to mention the number of paid subscribers who are willing to pay more than the standard price, elevating the market’s average revenue per user (ARPU) and helping super-charge streaming revenue gains. As seen in this week’s earnings release from Tencent Music — the largest music streaming service provider in China, which operates Kugou Music, QQ Music and Kuwo Music — the number of users on its super-premium “Super VIP” tier grew 12% over midyear 2025 and now make up roughly 15.7% of the service’s 127.4 million total paying subscribers.

Latin America continued to surge. 

Though percent of revenue growth in Latin America was down year-over-year — falling from 22.5% in 2024 to 17.1% in 2025 — it nonetheless grew for a 16th straight year, with streaming accounting for more than 88% of all recorded music revenue in the region. Bright spots include Mexico, which increased revenue by 13.3% and remained the No. 10 recorded music market globally, and Brazil, which overtook Canada to become the eighth-largest recorded music market.

In Mexico, exports of Música Mexicana have led to consistent growth, as labels continue investing in the region and increased streaming adoption allows music to circulate more easily across borders than ever before. As Tomas Rodriquez, president of Warner Music Mexico/Música Mexicana, said in this year’s report, “Música Mexicana didn’t suddenly appear — it’s always been big. What changed is how easily it can now travel.” Recent forays into Mexico by the major labels and companies including HYBE, which launched a regional Mexican label in September, indicate more growth is on the horizon.

In Brazil, years of investment by the major U.S. labels also helped lead to revenue increases — from Sony Music acquiring the top Brazilian label Som Livre for more than $250 million in 2021 to Warner Music bolstering its presence there in 2024. In its Q3 results last October, Universal Music Group also reported double-digit subscription growth in the Brazilian market.

Physical revenue grew more quickly than digital.

For only the second time on record, physical revenue growth outpaced digital growth (8% vs. 7.7%). That was partially driven by the aforementioned rebound in Japan — the largest market for physical music worldwide, whose downturn in 2024 helped lead to a 3.1% decline in physical revenue globally. Last year’s spike in physical revenue can largely be attributed to the continued popularity of vinyl, which saw a 13.7% revenue gain last year. Notably, that increase can at least partially be attributed to the format’s growing price tag and the trend of artists capturing more revenue from superfans by releasing multiple vinyl variants, a relatively new phenomenon that didn’t exist when vinyl was king in the ’70s and ’80s.

Artists’ share of industry revenues increased. 

Though artists’ share of industry revenues saw only a slight uptick year-over-year — from 34.8% in 2024 to 35.5% in 2025 — that share has grown significantly over the last decade; in 2016, artists’ share of recorded music revenue sat at 31%. This indicates more generous revenue splits for artists, who now have more choice in where and how to release and finance their music — and therefore more leverage when it comes to negotiating deals — than ever before. 

“Deepfake” songs have become an increasingly pervasive problem.

During the global launch event for the IFPI report, Dennis Kooker, president of global digital business & U.S. sales at Sony Music, claimed the company has requested the removal of more than 135,000 AI-generated “deepfake” songs from streaming services impersonating Sony artists including Beyonce, Harry Styles and Queen (per the BBC). “In the worst cases, [the deepfakes] potentially damage a release campaign or tarnish the reputation of an artist,” Kooker reportedly said.

“The problem with deepfakes are they are a demand-driven event,” Kooker continued. “They are taking advantage of the fact an artist is out there promoting their music. That is when deepfakes are at their worst — building off and benefiting from the demand the artist has created [and] ultimately detracting from what the artist is trying to accomplish.”

Sony’s claims underscore the fact that, more than a decade into the streaming revolution that shored up the industry’s bottom line, bad actors are now harnessing an even more powerful technology and threatening to erode industry revenues once more.

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“Live from London, it’s Saturday Night!” After more than 50 seasons of TV, Saturday Night Live expands outside of the United States to England with Saturday Night Live UK. For its inaugural episode, the new sketch comedy show has tapped SNL alumnus Tina Fey to host, while English indie rock band Wet Leg is set to perform as musical guest.

Although SNL UK makes its debut live on Saturday, March 21 at 10 p.m. GMT on British broadcaster Sky UK, it drops in the U.S. the following day on Sunday, March 22 on Peacock.

Want to watch SNL UK online for free? Your easiest bet is to sign up a 30-day free trial to Walmart+, which features access to Peacock as one of its member’s perks, to stream the sketch comedy show online without needing a pay for a subscription service. Learn more about Walmart+ here.

Alternatively, you can subscribe to Peacock directly, which is the official NBCUniversal streamer, starting at $10.99 per month. Peacock gives you access to NBC, Bravo, USA Network, CNBC, NBC Sports and Peacock Originals, like SNL UK.

Meanwhile, Tina Fey is one of the best hosts you could have to steer a new SNL cast. Fey joined SNL as a writer in 1997 and joined the main cast two years later in 1999. By the year 2000, she was promoted to head writer, as she also became co-anchor of Weekend Update with fellow anchor Jimmy Fallon. Tina Fey left SNL in 2006.

As for Wet Leg, the band released the award-nominated album Moisturizer in July 2025, while they are set to tour across the U.S. starting at Fox Theater Pomona in Pomona, California on Wednesday, Apr. 15.

SNL UK features a cast of British comedy actors and comedians, including:

In the meantime, watch a promo reel for the debut episode below:

Want more? For more product recommendations, check out our roundups of the best Xbox deals, studio headphones and Nintendo Switch accessories.

CBS News said Friday it will shut down its storied radio news service after nearly 100 years of operation, ending an era and blaming challenging economic times as the world moves on to digital sources and podcasts.

When it went on the air in September 1927, the service was the precursor to the entire network, giving a youthful William S. Paley a start in the business. Famed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow’s rooftop reports during the Nazi bombing of London during World War II kept Americans listening anxiously.

Today, CBS News Radio provides material to an estimated 700 stations across the country and is known best for its top-of-the-hour news roundups. The service will end on May 22, the network said Friday.

“Radio is woven into the fabric of CBS News and that’s always going to be part of our history,” CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss said in delivering the news to the staff. “I want you to know that we did everything we could, including before I joined the company, to try and find a viable solution to sustain the radio operation.”

But with the radical changes in the media industry, “we just could not find a way to make that possible,” she said.

Not the first radio cuts at CBS

CBS News cut some of its radio programming late last year, including its “Weekend Roundup” and “World News Roundup Late Edition,” in an attempt to keep the service going.

It was unclear how many people will lose their jobs because of the radio shutdown. CBS News was cutting about 6% of its workforce, or more than 60 people, on Friday. It’s not the end of turmoil at the network, as parent company Paramount Global is likely to absorb CNN as part of its announced purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Along with newspapers, radio was the dominant medium in how Americans got their news from shortly after the dawn of commercial radio in 1920 through the 1940s, with people in their living rooms listening to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats” during the Depression. CBS News Radio’s broadcast about Germany’s invasion of Austria in 1938, the first time Murrow was heard on the air, was an historic marker for the service.

Broadcasters like Douglas Edwards, Dallas Townsend and Christopher Glenn were familiar voices on CBS News Radio. The beginning of the television era in the 1950s began a long slide for radio, often an afterthought today with the world online and on phones. Those seeking audio often turn to podcasts before radio.

“This is another part of the landscape that has fallen off into the sea,” said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers, a trade publication for radio talk shows. “It’s a shame. It’s a loss for the country and for the industry.”

A major radio player for many decades

CBS News Radio was a major force for generations of Americans. “Its heyday spanned decades,” Harrison said. “It was quality on every level. It sounded good. Its coverage was as objective as possible within the realm of human nature. Its resources were extensive. It had a very high trust factor that was considered the standard of the day.”

The front page of CBS News’ website did not immediately carry news of the demise.

Weiss, founder of the Free Press website and without broadcast news experience before being hired by CBS parent Paramount’s new management, has quickly become a headline-maker and polarizing figure in journalism. She held a “60 Minutes” story critical of President Donald Trump’s deportation policy from being broadcast for a month and has critics watching to see if she’s moving the network in a Trump-friendly direction.

Addressing her staff in January, three months into her job as CBS News boss, she invoked the network’s legendary newsman Walter Cronkite as a symbol of old thinking and said that if the network continues with its current strategy, “we’re toast.” She announced the hiring of 18 new contributors and said CBS News needs to do stories that will “surprise and provoke — including inside our own newsroom.”

This story was originally published by The Associated Press.

All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.

The 2026 NCAA March Madness tournament has started off with a bang. Many top-seeded teams have breezed through the first round already, but we’ve also witnessed a fair share of major upsets. No. 11 Texas defeated No. 6 BYU, No. 12 High Point stunned No. 5 Wisconsin, No. 11 VCU erased a 19-point deficit to knock off No. 6 North Carolina in overtime, and No. 9 TCU beat No. 8 Ohio State. As we enter day two of the first round, one game we’re excited to watch is No. 7 UCLA Bruins vs. No. 10 UCF Knights.

Entering March Madness, the Bruins, led by Coach Mick Croning, is one of the hottest programs to watch. With Donovan Dent and Tyler Bilodeau continuing to be a dynamic duo alongside their fiery offense, UCLA could potentially make a deep run in the tournament if they can stay healthy. Both players sustained injuries during the Big Ten tournament, even as the Bruins picked off Michigan State. Both players are expected to play, but can they sustain a high-level of play through the later rounds?

We believe UCLA has the better odds entering the game, but the Knights shouldn’t be slept on. With rebounding machine Jamichael Stillwell, UCF could dominate the paint and squeeze out another March Madness upset. This is also UCF’s first NCAA tournament since 2019, and just the first time since joining the Big 12.

When Does the UCLA vs. UCF Game Start?

UCLA vs. UCF game will start on March 20 at 7:25 p.m. ET/4:25 p.m. PT at Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia.

Where to Watch UCLA vs. UCF Online

The UCLA vs. UCF game will broadcast live on TBS, but can be streamed through Sling TV. Keep reading for how to sign up for the streaming service.

Here’s How to Watch the UCLA vs. UCF March Madness Game on Sling TV

Sling TV offers the Blue, Orange and Sling Orange + Blue packages, which come with TBS, ESPN, NBC, USA Network, CNBC, MS NOW, Bravo and others. Blue is one of the most affordable options and comes with more than 40 channels and can be streamed on up to three devices at a time.

You can watch cable networks, including ESPN2, ESPN3 (for ABC simulcast), Disney Channel, Freeform, MotorTrend, A&E, AMC, BBC America, BET, CNN, Comedy Central, Food Network, Fuse, HGTV, History Channel, IFC, Lifetime, Nick Jr., QVC, TNT, Travel Channel, Vice and many others.

Meanwhile, starting at $4.99 for the Sling 1-Day Pass, you can access Sling Blue for 24 hours. Additionally, the Sling 3-Day Pass goes for $9.99 to access Sling Blue from Friday-to-Sunday. Sling 7-Day Pass, which goes for $14.99, gets you access for seven days of Sling Blue.

Please note: Prices and channel availability depends on your local TV market. You can learn more about Sling TV here.

The Ontario government is coming for ticket resellers.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has announced that the provincial government plans to ban ticket resale transactions at prices exceeding face value, making it illegal for tickets to concerts, cultural, sports and other live events to be resold for more than their original cost.

This new legislation would protect fans and consumers from “exploitative, professional resellers who artificially drive up ticket prices” and ensure Ontarians have a higher chance of attending live events across the province.

“With these new measures, consumers would no longer need to worry about being ripped off in the ticket resale market, and more families and fans would have the opportunity to see their favourite band or sports team perform live,” says Stephen Crawford, minister of public and business service delivery and procurement, in a statement.

On social media, Ford doubles down on the decision: “We’re putting ticket scalpers on notice: Your days of ripping people off are done.”

The government says it also plans to “strengthen validity guarantee requirements” to protect buyers against the sale of fake tickets and stop unfair service fees during the purchasing process.

The decision has received a positive response among some Canadian music organizations. The Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA) is in favour of the law, but notes that the rollout is key.

“The effectiveness of any new framework will depend heavily on how it is enforced, and we are pleased to see new enforcement tools introduced,” the organization writes in a statement. 

“Without clear, consistent, and well-resourced enforcement, there is a real risk that bad actors will adapt in ways that undermine the intent of these changes.”

The CLMA notes that it will continue working alongside the Ontario government “to help ensure these measures are practical, enforceable and effective for both fans and the live events sector.”

The provincial government’s announcement is aptly timed with the FIFA World Cup, which is set to take over Toronto in June, 2026. 

Read more here. — Heather Taylor-Singh

Canada’s Recorded Music Revenues Grow for the 11th Straight Year: IFPI’s Global Music Report 2026

When it comes to music, Canada continues to punch above its weight.

According to the newly released IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry) Global Music Report, Canada’s recorded music revenues grew for the 11th consecutive year in 2025.

The annual study provides a deep dive into the global music market, analyzing issues and trends within the industry.

The report finds that Canada experienced a 5.6% increase in recorded music market growth last year to reach $957.9 million.

That’s a notable jump from last year’s findings, which flagged a relatively small growth of 1.5%, reaching $660.3 million USD. However, the 2024 figures were in comparison to an unusually high 2023, which was elevated by a large one-off performance rights revenue payout.

Despite the revenue peak, Canada dropped one place in the global rankings, now the ninth-largest market across the world.

“We do punch above our weight,” says Patrick Rogers, CEO of Music Canada, the trade association representing Canada’s three major record labels. “That punching above our weight is based on strong copyright laws and strong fundamentals in the marketplace.”

Music Canada and IFPI credit streaming as a key catalyst.

Revenues overall increased 4.5% to $747 million, while subscription streaming revenues grew 3.4% to $598.5 million and ad-supported streaming (audio and video combined) rose by 9.4% to $148.3 million.

“The idea that you can listen to any song ever recorded, when you want, how you want, through the service of your choice, is really powerful,” Rogers says.

Yet, physical music climbed by 15.9% to $122.2 million, led by vinyl, CD and other formats. While they’re major figures, Rogers says, the “growth numbers” can’t be compared to the era of piracy, when some listeners were illegally downloading their music in the late ’90s and early 2000s, decreasing physical media sales. Nearly three decades later, streaming has made music accessible to everyone.

“Canadians have revalued the value of music to a point in which people are happily paying for music again,” he explains.

Read more here. — HTS

ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus Joins Canadian Government and Music Industry for AI Summit in Banff, Alberta

In the music and cultural industries, nobody can stop talking about AI.

This week in Banff, Alberta, that conversation took centre stage for three days at the National Summit on Artificial Intelligence and Culture. From March 15-17, 300 leaders from across the cultural and technology sectors converged in an event co-hosted by the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity and the Canadian government.

That included a large contingent from the music industry, including (among many others) representatives from Music Publishers Canada and SOCAN, who have been leaders when it comes to fair compensation and copyright for artificially generated works.

“It’s been nice to see the industry aligned,” Patrick Rogers, CEO of Music Canada, the organization that represents the major labels in Canada. “Everyone’s talking to government from different perspectives, but from the same goal: we know that copyright is part of AI, and that part of the solution to getting proper licensing is based in transparency.”

CISAC (the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) is an organization made up of 227 member societies in 111 countries, including SOCAN in Canada. It represents more than 5 million creators from music to drama, literature and visual arts and has contributed key research about AI and creativity.

In a remote speech, CISAC president Björn Ulvaeus (likely best known as a member of Swedish pop giants ABBA), spoke about the importance of protecting creators in the age of AI.

“If we want human creativity to thrive in the age of artificial intelligence, we must ensure strong protections for creators. Strong protections mean not only making sure that rights are in place but also resisting broad text and data mining exceptions that allow works to be used without permission or payment. When creators are protected, they can continue producing the amusing and cultural works for which Canada is respected around the world.”

Resisting the text and data mining exception aligns him with Music Publishers Canada’s Margaret McGuffin, who argued in an Executive of the Week interview with Billboard Canada earlier this year that existing copyright legislation already accounts for AI and should not be changed to suit “disruptive” tech companies.

“There is no grey area,” she said. “People who say there is don’t want to license. They want to avoid paying.”

In his speech, Ulvaeus stressed that the cultural sector is not afraid of AI, but wants to see it proceed with caution and fairness. He met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in November, he shared, and told him about how copyright protections led to the rise of ABBA on the global stage.

As part of its commitment, the Canadian government will launch an AI and Culture Advisory council with Ministers Evan Solomon and Marc Miller, and 12 yet-to-be-named rotating members across creative and technology fields. They will meet twice a year to make sure voices are heard in both fields as they prepare to launch a national AI strategy.

Read more here. — Richard Trapunski