Swedish performing rights organisation STIM has announced record revenues for 2023. It brought in 3.095 billion krona (around $291 million) last year, an increase of 14.2% on 2022. Distributions to rightsholders were also up by 20%, at 2.753 billion krona ($242 million).
“It’s fantastic to see the impact of Swedish music creation, as we once again witness record figures”, says STIM CEO Casper Bjørner. “Sweden’s songwriters and composers succeed year after year in creating and spreading music that is loved all over the world - they have truly found the magical formula”.
The biggest contributor to STIM’s income was digital, which increased 8% to 942 million krona ($88.6 million), making up 42% of the total for 2023. Income from music streamed internationally was up 27%. A key driver of this success, says Bjørner, is ICE, the digital licensing hub that was set up by STIM in partnership with PRS For Music in the UK and GEMA in Germany.
“The successes of STIM in collecting musician fees from around the world are largely thanks to ICE”, he says. “This has greatly benefited our rightsholders. Over a four-year period, ICE has collected nearly 50 billion krona from around the world”.
International revenues more generally are important for STIM, which operates in a relatively small market but - as Bjørner notes - has plenty of songwriters in its membership that enjoy success globally. Income under the international category was the second largest driver of revenue last year, accounting for 30% of the total.
Beyond digital and international, which brought in the vast majority of Swedish performance royalty income, broadcast revenues were up 8% to 382 million krona, income from music played in businesses such as bars and shops increased 13% to 227 million krona, and live performance revenue was also up 13% to 133 million krona.
STIM’s announcement comes just after UK collecting society PRS For Music also announced record figures for 2023. PRS obviously operates in a bigger market than STIM, and also has a membership that includes lots of writers who enjoy global success.
Therefore, unsurprisingly, total collections at PRS are significantly higher, exceeding £1 billion in revenues last year. Even though, with the UK repertoire, not all digital income flows through the collecting society, because - unlike in Sweden - many publishers have direct deals with the digital platforms.