BMG has “integrated” new releases and catalogue divisions

Major label BMG has announced that it is rejecting the “outdated privileging” of new music over older music by “fully-integrating” its new releases and catalog departments.

This new change has been implemented with immediate effect, with statistics from BMG reporting that older recordings account for up to three-quarters of revenue from the streaming market.

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CEO Hartwig Masuch explained in a press release: “Music fans demonstrate on a daily basis that they reject the music industry’s outdated privileging of new music over older music. Music is music regardless of its age. Great artists and great music have no expiry date and we believe it is time for the music industry to reflect that.”

Statistics from Luminate, as reported by Billboard, reveal that catalogue music total consumption across all formats reached 72.2% in 2022, up from 69.8% in 2021 and 65.1% in 2020.

TikTok however, has brought older songs such as Fleetwood Mac‘s ‘Dreams’ and Kate Bush‘s ‘Running Up That Hill’ back into popularity.

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Masuch continues in his statement: “BMG was the first music company to recognize that in a streaming environment, older music would be relatively more important than it had ever been in the past. This is born out by market statistics which show that the new release frontline business is down to 30% or less of streaming consumption.

“It is why we have invested heavily in classic repertoire and why the majority of our frontline new releases are by proven and established artists.

“But until now we have always followed industry practice in having a separate global reporting line for catalog recordings as opposed to frontline.”

Read BMG’s full statement here.

Becky Buckle is Mixmag’s Multimedia Editor, follow her on Twitter