The Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS) has published its view on the CISAC Global Collections Report 2025, which documents another year of record royalties for creators worldwide. The findings position India among the fastest-growing music markets, driven largely by the acceleration of streaming and digital consumption.
CISAC reports that global collections reached EUR 13.97 billion in 2024, with digital revenues exceeding EUR 5 billion for the first time. India reflects this shift more sharply than most emerging markets: creator revenues grew 40.5 percent year-on-year to EUR 80.5 million, up from just EUR 5.4 million a decade ago, placing IPRS as the fourth-largest society in the Asia-Pacific region. Digital contributed 82.7 percent of India’s total collections, buoyed by a one-time back payment and the steady migration from free to paid streaming.
Collections from live and background uses crossed EUR 10 million for the first time, accounting for 14 percent of the market, while broadcast revenues dropped to 2.3 percent due to deferred settlements.
CISAC identifies India and Vietnam as two of the world’s fastest-expanding digital markets, with some of the highest digital revenue shares globally. IPRS’s own Annual Report echoes this trajectory. In FY 2024–25, total collections rose 42 percent to ₹741.6 crore, and distributions climbed 21 percent to ₹608.8 crore. Streaming income alone surpassed ₹600 crore, up 59 percent year-on-year.
However, India’s heavy reliance on digital income stands in contrast to global patterns. Internationally, television and radio broadcasting contribute 28 percent of collections and live and background usage another 26 percent. In India, both remain substantially underdeveloped. Broadcast TV and radio royalties have yet to reach their potential due to persistent non-compliance, and public performance revenues, despite rising to ₹101.7 crore, continue to face widespread licensing gaps. Even as India hosts large-scale festivals such as Lollapalooza India, Rolling Loud and the Cherry Blossom Festival, publishing revenues from live events remain disproportionately low.
“The CISAC report validates India’s position as a dynamic and rapidly growing music market, but it also signals the urgent need for greater compliance across the ecosystem,” said Rakesh Nigam, CEO of IPRS. “Digital platforms cannot be the sole driver of creator income. Broadcasters, radio networks, event organisers and venues, and all commercial users of music, must recognise their responsibility to pay for what they use.”
IPRS now represents more than 20,000 members. The society highlights that initiatives such as global songwriting residencies (KOLAB), international showcase projects like Soundscapes of India and ongoing improvements in metadata accuracy, now at 96 percent, are strengthening the underlying infrastructure of India’s creator economy. But it warns that sustained growth will require compliance from legacy sectors including broadcast, radio, commercial establishments and live events.
The CISAC report also flags the growing impact of generative AI. It projects a potential 24 percent decline in creator income by 2028, with GenAI outputs reaching an estimated EUR 40 billion and accounting for as much as 60 percent of music library catalogues. The report calls for clear regulatory frameworks to protect human authorship.
“In 2024, authors’ societies delivered record royalties to creators worldwide, yet the advent of artificial intelligence signals a profound shift for our sector,” said CISAC President Björn Ulvaeus. “We must keep humanity at the heart of creation. What we need now are political champions to ensure respect for human authorship is not sidelined in the race for innovation.”
Under India’s Copyright Act, 1957, and its 2012 amendments, authors retain an inalienable right to royalty for literary and musical works. Strengthening licensing compliance, IPRS argues, remains essential to securing fair remuneration and ensuring the long-term sustainability of India’s music publishing ecosystem.
