Global music publishing hits $12.2bn in 2025 as majors pull ahead
Music publishing around the world brought in $12.2 billion in 2025, up by almost 10% on the year before, according to a MIDiA Research report released on Sept 28.
Publishing covers the song itself — the melody and lyrics — separate from any particular recording of it. The money goes to songwriters and composers, and to the publishers that administer their rights, collect royalties and pitch songs for use. The figures were reported by Billboard.
The largest companies took a bigger slice. Major publishers grew faster than independent publishers in 2025, MIDiA found. Their combined market share rose by 1.3 percentage points to 54.7%.
That leaves just under half of global revenue outside the majors. Independents range from long-established publishing houses to small firms and songwriters administering their own work.
Sony Music Publishing set the pace among the majors. It was the fastest-growing major publisher for the second year running in 2025. It added almost one percentage point to its own market share over the year.
Streaming did the heavy lifting. Plays on subscription and ad-supported services generated the largest share of publishing revenue in 2025. Each play triggers a publishing royalty as well as a recording royalty, which is why growth in listening feeds both sides of the business.
MIDiA expects that pattern to hold. It projects the streaming portion of publishing revenue will keep growing through 2033.
Catalogue funds had a strong year too. Their publishing revenue rose by almost 15% to $1.6 billion. These funds buy the rights to older songs and earn money when those songs are streamed, broadcast, covered or licensed to film, television, adverts and games.
The publishing result sits next to a similar story in recordings. Global recorded music revenue grew by 9.4% to $39.5 billion in 2025, according to MIDiA Research. That total covers income from the recordings themselves, including streaming, physical sales and licensing.
What makes this stand out is where the growth landed. The whole publishing pot got bigger. The majors, and Sony in particular, took more of the increase than anyone else.
