Indie label U.S. market share grew an impressive 27.8% last year

Industry headlines focused this week on the narrowing gap between #1 UMG and #2 Sony, but the big news in the year-end data from Luminate was the strength of independent labels, whose U.S. market share grew an impressive 27.81% from 16.54% to 21.14% in 2022.

Most of the indie music sector’s growth came at the statistical expense of the top major label group UMG whose market share fell from 37.54% in 2021 to 22.57% in 2022.

#2 Sony’s market share grew slightly from 26.87% to 26,94% last year, and WMG’s #3 market share shaved a percentage point from 19.05% to 18.03%.

Unsurprisingly, indies captured a smaller catalog market share than the majors, but still notched an increase compared to 2021, ending the year at 14.93%. UMG ended 2022 with a 33.04% market share, Sony with 26.83%, and WMG with 19.31%.

Both current and catalog music market share growth came from dozens of independent labels, with BMG and Concord leading the charge.

Bruce Houghton is the Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank, a Senior Advisor at Bandsintown, President of the Skyline Artists Agency, and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.