Universal Music Group finished 2024 with 36.90% of the current U.S. music market, up from 35.84% the year before. But Grainge spent much of the last year focused on the future — of streaming, of music generated by artificial intelligence (AI) and of the ways in which the company’s music can be leveraged. He began 2024 with a show of strength, pulling from TikTok the company’s recordings as well as the compositions it controls. (UMG and TikTok signed a new deal in May.) He ended the year with the $775 million acquisition of Downtown Music Holdings, under Virgin Music Group. In between, he took the lead in the industry’s efforts to shape the evolution of streaming and restructured UMG’s recorded-music operations.

Grainge envisions a new chapter of music delivery he calls “Streaming 2.0,” which, he said in September at Universal Music Capital Markets Day, “will represent a new age of innovation, consumer segmentation, geographic expansion and greater value through both subscriber and [average revenue per user] growth.” In other words, as traditional subscription streaming growth slows, Grainge wants to maximize revenue by encouraging platforms to offer more high-value services to superfans to get them to pay more than casual users. He also wants to raise royalty payouts by getting the same platforms to move to “artist-centric” models that reward acts with followings and their labels. In December, UMG and Amazon Music announced a renewed deal that called for the online giant to move toward “Streaming 2.0” — potentially in a way that will set it apart from its competitors. Others will follow.

Grainge also streamlined the company’s U.S. pop recorded-music business under two label groups, REPUBLIC and Interscope Capitol, to refocus the company’s attention and capital on parts of the music industry that are expected to grow faster. Hence UMG’s majority investment in the Afrobeats label Mavin Global, as well as its Downtown acquisition. UMG already dominates the market for big pop stars — now it’s trying to ensure streaming evolves in a way that favors them, while expanding more aggressively into providing more services for smaller acts. —Robert Levine

For much of Spotify’s 17-year existence, Ek prioritized “growing users and subscribers first before worrying about the monetization part,” then-CFO Paul Vogel said in 2020. But after the streaming giant’s stock plunged 66% in 2022, its press-shy co-founder and CEO began taking monetization more seriously. Last year, that shift in strategy paid off, and in November, Spotify said that it expects to notch its first full year of profitability. In 2023, Ek raised premium subscription prices and cut 17% of its workforce to make the company “relentlessly resourceful in the ways we operate, innovate and tackle problems.” Pulling those two levers put Spotify on a new financial trajectory. Revenue jumped 19.4% in the first nine months of 2023 over the same period of 2022, gross profit margin improved five percentage points to 31.1%, operating income jumped 14 times, and free cash flow more than tripled. The company that never could make its business model work was suddenly killing it. Wall Street applauded the potential combination of high growth and improving margins. In December, Spotify’s market capitalization surpassed $100 billion — a first for a music company — and its share price finished the year up 138%. Ek always had a popular product. As of Sept. 30, Spotify had 640 million total users, 252 million of them paying subscribers. That’s about one-tenth of the world’s population excluding China, one of the few places the service is not available. In 2024, Ek finally had a profitable business, too. —Glenn Peoples

Schusser says that “2024 was a pivotal year for music at Apple. We started with our record-breaking Super Bowl Halftime Show featuring Usher — the most-watched ever with an average 129.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen — which set the stage for several innovations across the business.” More than 40 iPhones, some attached to performers and instruments, were used to film the show, and high-powered KVANT-brand lasers created special effects. He adds that Apple Music’s inaugural 100 Best Albums initiative “struck a chord with artists and music fans, creating a cultural conversation worldwide” and demonstrated some of the platform’s core values — “human curation and a deep respect for the art of music.” Three live-hosted radio stations launched: the Latin-focused Música Uno, dance/electronic Club and instrumental Chill channels. And Apple’s Shazam app surpassed 100 billion song recognitions in 2024.

On the business side, Apple Music’s paid subscribers total about 54 million in the United States and 115 million in the rest of the world, where label sources say the service’s biggest impact is in Russia and Japan. They also say Apple Music has about a 25% market share in U.S. album consumption units. That’s a little more than half of industry leader Spotify’s total, those sources add, but when Apple’s much higher per-stream payments to rights holders are considered, Apple narrows that gap considerably on a dollar basis.

In the coming year, Schusser says, “I’m most excited about how Apple Intelligence will continue transforming Apple Music, creating an even more personalized experience for our consumers.” —Ed Christman

Marciano offers one name when asked about AEG’s 2024 highlights: Taylor Swift, who in December concluded The Eras Tour, which was promoted by AEG partner Messina Touring Group. “While it’s easy to be blinded by the headline of the number” — a $2.08 billion total gross, according to The New York Times — “what’s more important is to look at how she led the industry in so many of the decisions she made,” Marciano says. “How generous she was to fans by electing not to use dynamic pricing on ticketing and canceling three shows in Austria because she wasn’t 100% certain about security there, even though it probably cost her tens of millions of dollars.” He adds that the 149 three-hour-plus shows Swift performed is “a startling achievement in every way and her team, whether it’s [her brother] Austin Swift, [father] Scott Swift or [tour manager] Robert Allen are consummate professionals. I wish all tours ran this smoothly.”

Swift did not report her grosses to Billboard Boxscore, which would have added an estimated $1 billion-plus to AEG Presents’ $3 billion year-end total. Her tour also is not reflected in the 28.9 million concertgoers the promoter hosted in 2024, or the 9,705 shows it produced — more than Live Nation’s 5,978, in part because of its continued focus on developing acts through smaller venues.

Other major AEG tours included Zach Bryan ($321.3 million), The Rolling Stones ($235 million, promoted by subsidiary Concerts West) and Luke Combs ($173.6 million), which all finished among the top 20 Boxscore tours of 2024. “There were probably more shows and more offerings for music fans around the world than there has been in the history of the industry,” Marciano says of last year, and though he sees ticket-price increases plateauing around 7% a year — “the pre-2019 growth rate” — he contends the live industry is “the happy beneficiary of streaming,” adding, “There are more artists in more niches and subniches than there ever have been.” That includes artists outside the United States. Says Marciano: “We’re selling as many tickets for artists singing in foreign languages in the U.S. than we are for those speaking and singing in English.” —F.D.

After dominating their competition for years with such superstars as Taylor Swift, Drake, Post Malone and Morgan Wallen, REPUBLIC’s fraternal leaders were put in charge of a restructured, more centralized East Coast label division early last year that includes Republic Records, Island, Mercury and Def Jam. The result: continued major-label supremacy with a 15.46% market share for the last two quarters of 2024. Monte Lipman says 2025 will be a year of “growth, scale [and] profitability,” adding, “It’s a very exciting period for the music industry. I’m bullish on all of it.”

The restructuring, which owner Universal Music Group announced in March, also put Interscope Geffen A&M heads John Janick and Steve Berman in charge of a left coast counterpart, Interscope Capitol, and in a corporate culture where UMG chairman Lucian Grainge favors in-house competition, an East Coast-West Coast battle looms. “They are knocking the cover off the ball,” Monte says of Interscope Capitol, adding, “I want them to do great. I just always want to do a little better.”

The successes that put REPUBLIC on top in 2024 include Republic Records’ Swift, Billboard’s No. 1 artist of the year and one who has “changed the paradigm of our business,” Monte says; Mercury’s Wallen, in partnership with Nashville indie Big Loud Records; breakout Island stars Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan; and Def Jam’s rising talent such as Muni Long and Coco Jones who, he says, are helping to “bring the legacy back.” Facing the future, Monte says, “Our greatest challenge is noise. Nearly 150,000 tracks go live every single day. What we’re competing against goes way beyond friendly competition.” —Steve Knopper

Boom believes the streaming ecosystem is on the verge of a major shift. “ ‘Music Streaming 1.0’ was all about offering a giant catalog of music and helping customers find what they should play next,” he says. But with Amazon and Universal Music Group’s December announcement that they will collaborate on a “Streaming 2.0” strategy, Boom predicts that “you’re going to see increased divergence on the value proposition” from different streaming platforms. “The services are there not just to play music but to help deepen fan culture — connect you to other listeners, connect you to the artist and develop listeners into fans.”

Amazon Music grew its livestreaming business, which includes Amazon Music Live on Prime Video and Twitch, a concert series that follows the platform’s Thursday Night Football games. Post Malone, GloRilla, Ed Sheeran and Halsey are among those who have performed. Twitch also signed licensing deals with major and indie labels so that DJs could livestream fully licensed sets on the platform. And the platform continued its expansion into merchandise, which Boom says is a natural extension of the parent company’s core business. “We’re good at selling stuff, and we’re good at logistics,” he explains. “Consumers trust us as a place to conduct commerce.” Boom says developments like these “will be good for the industry because it allows for more segmentation. And that will bring new growth.” —E.L.

For decades, a common measure of a teen-oriented music group’s mainstream potential has been its ability to attract a crowd at a shopping mall. In October, HYBE and Geffen Records tested the fruits of their U.S. joint venture, a girl group named KATSEYE, with an appearance at Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. Americans had been introduced to the act two months earlier through the Netflix reality series Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE. “Over 7,000 fans showed up on-site,” Bang says, “which was a clear sign to us that KATSEYE has truly become a phenomenon.”

The group’s promising start is vital to HYBE’s plans to export its South Korean approach to artist development. “There were concerns about whether the U.S. market still had space for boy and girl groups, as well as whether it could sustain a passionate and young fan base,” Bang says. “However, the success of the group’s first EP, SIS (Soft Is Strong), has proven that the market exists, and that is our biggest achievement.” KATSEYE’s five-track debut accounted for 115,000 U.S. equivalent album units in 2024, with roughly half coming from CD sales and the other half from 97 million on-demand streams. The EP debuted at No. 119 on the Billboard 200 and fared better across the pond, reaching No. 45 on the U.K. albums chart.

Of his HYBE America CEO, Bang says, “I trust him wholeheartedly,” adding, “Scooter has truly embraced his role, going beyond being an artist manager to fully committing to his position.”

For his part, Braun, who retired from managing artists last year, cites the success of HYBE’s Weverse social media/e-commerce business, which in 2024 held over 70 online concerts, sold 18 million pieces of merchandise and attracted over 700 million views to Weverse live streams. In addition, as of July 2024, Weverse album sales reached 9.4 million units across approximately 40 releases. And this year, Braun is bringing Western artists to the superfan platform. After artists like Kid LAROI, Megan Thee Stallion and Dua Lipa joined in 2024, “it’s only growing and will continue to do so in 2025,” says Braun. —G.P.

“We’re set up for a real growth chapter,” Capshaw says. As usual, Red Light’s perennial road dogs Dave Matthews Band, Phish and Chris Stapleton blew up the box office, earning $53.5 million, $55.7 million and $81.9 million, respectively, and placing among the top 60 Billboard Boxscore tours of 2024. What was different, Capshaw says, is that “country is full-blown going international.” Stapleton’s receipts and 2025 itinerary reflect that development. After a successful run through the United Kingdom that included two sold-out shows at London’s O2 Arena, he will tour Australia and New Zealand. “We’re the beneficiaries of streaming and genres are blurring,” Capshaw says. “People are tapping into great music. And country has great songs that people from all over the world can relate to.”

Red Light’s investment in up-and-coming talent also blossomed. The company’s partnership with manager Janelle Lopez Genzink and her artist Sabrina Carpenter netted three top three Hot 100 singles in 2024 — “Espresso,” “Taste” and the No. 1 “Please Please Please” — and six Grammy nominations, including best new artist. Lainey Wilson, who toured Australia last year, hosted the Country Music Association Awards and won female vocalist of the year for the third consecutive year. Red Light’s partnership with management and artist services platform Firebird on the Nashville-based Leo33 label resulted in its first signing, Zach Top, reaching No. 38 on the Hot 100 with “I Never Lie” and No. 15 on Country Airplay with “Sounds Like the Radio.” As the new year begins, Capshaw says, “There’s a wave of new manager partnerships happening,” including an alliance with Reneé Rapp’s manager, Adam Mersel. “More pop managers are interested in a relationship.” —F.D.

When nominations for the 2025 Grammy Awards were revealed, Ghazi was in an all-too-familiar place: on a plane. The jet-setting executive had spent one day in London, one in Monaco, two days in Lisbon and another in Miami before returning to EMPIRE’s home base of San Francisco, where he then drove to Los Angeles to see his two Grammy-nominated artists, Asake — nominated for best African music performance for the second year running — and Shaboozey, the country crossover star whose massive hit, “A Bar Song (Tipsy),” tied the record for most weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 (19) and earned five Grammy nominations, including song of the year and best new artist. “Everything we had set our minds to and everything we were trying to accomplish was validated through the nominations,” says Ghazi, whose staunchly independent company is about to celebrate its 15th anniversary coming off its biggest year yet.

All that air travel was not for nothing. Last year, EMPIRE launched in Australia, expanded into East Asia with the landmark signing of K-pop pioneer G-Dragon and continued building its industry-leading footprint in Africa and the Middle East. The company also fully acquired Top Drawer Merch and grew its publishing division. It’s not lost on Ghazi that, for a company so long associated with underground hip-hop and African music, its biggest hit would come from Nashville. He describes Shaboozey as “an artist that’s galvanized the entire operation.” His success this past year, he adds, proved “you can reach the highest height independently and on your own terms, without succumbing to whatever system or machine or construct that may have existed in the past. It is what you make of it.”

Billboard recognizes him this year with its Visionary Award, an annual honor, selected by our editorial team, acknowledging extraordinary music-business vision. It is named after the legendary Clive Davis whose own vision and musical acumen transformed the industry. —Dan Rys

Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, which concluded its historic 22-month, 149-show run in early December, grossed $2.08 billion, according to The New York Times, and set a new high-water mark for the concert business — and as the head of its promoter, Messina helped drive much of that success. “What Taylor has done is, to me, the best show I’ve ever seen,” Messina, 77, told Billboard shortly before becoming the inaugural recipient of its Touring Titan honor in November. “She amazes me night after night. She’s one of a kind.” The key to Messina’s success? Longevity and loyalty. “My model is about careers, not tours,” says Messina, whose clients also include Ed Sheeran, Eric Church and Shawn Mendes. “I always say I’m not in the rent-a-band business. I want to know what that artist’s vision is five and 10 years from now.” —Eric Renner Brown

For Edge, last year’s highlights include “the superstar breakthrough of Tate McRae, [Blackpink member] Lisa stepping out as a new global solo star and Latto’s triumphant arrival with one of the year’s best rap albums culminating in a Grammy nomination” (best melodic rap performance for “Big Mama”). Other Grammy nods include three for Chris Brown, whose “Sensational,” featuring Lojay and fellow RCA artist Davido, is up for best African music performance; two each for SZA, Lucky Daye and Tems; and a nomination for Childish Gambino’s album Bando Stone and the New World.

Looking ahead to 2025, Edge says that “it will be more important than ever for artists to surround themselves with a passionate music team who understands how to reach and connect with potential fans.” —Gail Mitchell

Rhone credits her team’s commitment to nurturing generational talent for the label’s 2024 success stories. “Whether it’s Travis Scott merging music and immersive experiences,” including at his Las Vegas CactusCon; “Future’s consistent ability to shape the zeitgeist, or 21 Savage’s evolution into a global phenomenon, the success we’ve experienced with these three superstars has redefined what impact looks like in today’s cultural landscape,” she says. In that same spirit, Meghan Trainor’s hit “Criminals” showcased her enduring appeal. Rhone also points to Epic’s breakthroughs with new musical styles, such as South African sensation Tyla: “With her groundbreaking fusion of amapiano and R&B, and her meteoric rise to Grammy winner, streaming superstar and multiplatinum artist, she has set new benchmarks for African artists in the global market.” Arguably the most convincing evidence of Epic’s artist-fostering approach last year was André 3000’s New Blue Sun, a critically lauded instrumental album of mostly flute music that was nominated for album of the year, best alternative jazz album and best instrumental composition at the Grammys. “All of these artists are shifting paradigms in fashion, digital innovation and storytelling,” Rhone says. “Through music, they continue to demonstrate Epic’s dedication to fostering visionaries.” —G.M.

With an estimated $1.5 billion in annual revenue, The Orchard will mark its 10-year anniversary in 2025 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment. While the company declines to provide or comment on its earnings, Navin says, “Over the past decade, The Orchard has grown five times its size from 2015 and defined what distribution looks like in the 21st century. We are proud to be No. 1 in our sector and will continue to lead the evolution of the business model.”
Among its distributed artists’ 2024 wins: English singer-songwriter RAYE won six BRIT Awards and landed three Grammy nominations, Kelsea Ballerini earned her first Top Country Albums No. 1 with Patterns, and Bad Bunny’s “Vete” became his 16th song to qualify for Spotify’s Billions club — the streaming service’s pantheon for tracks with over 1 billion streams.

The Orchard now represents a significant share of the indie community, which IFPI estimates is almost one-third of the global market. “Our success is due to our incredible clients — entrepreneurs who define genres, break boundaries and represent the very best independent talent worldwide,” Theis adds. “Together, they amassed a combined 650 billion streams globally this year.” —E.C.

Rimas celebrated its first decade in business last year, and Assad and his team were honored with the 10 Year Impact Award at Billboard’s Latin Power Players celebration in October. Key to that longevity, Assad says, is that “no matter what venture we’re working on, from day one, everyone is collaborating.” Those ventures comprise an empire run by the 34-year-old Puerto Rican entrepreneur that evolved from his management of Latin music superstar Bad Bunny. Assad oversees a record label (Rimas), booking agency (Rimas Nation), sports agency (Rimas Sports), distributor (Sonar, through The Orchard) and management firm Habibi, whose clients include Karol G, Grupo Frontera, Eladio Carrión, Arcángel, Sebastián Yatra and Latin Mafia, the lattermost of whom was signed in 2024. There is also a philanthropic division, the Rimas Foundation.

Assad describes his leadership approach as “never copy-paste” — and that customized approach to his businesses continued to yield crossover wins. Bad Bunny placed at No. 20 on Billboard’s all-genre top artists of 2024 ranking and ninth on Billboard Boxscore’s top tours of 2024 chart with a $211.4 million gross. Karol G and Grupo Frontera were Nos. 4 and 9, respectively, on the year-end Top Latin Artists list, and Karol G’s tour was the 12th-biggest Boxscore outing with a $168.7 million gross. Rimas doubled its staff and opened offices in Mexico and Spain with plans to expand to South America, all part of Assad’s pledge to ensure that, in the coming years, “the quality of music will go beyond the quantity.” —L.C.

In June, Light was elevated from his longtime position as CAA’s head of worldwide touring to managing director, which he says has changed his role in “the most positive ways.” For starters, Light says, “I am spending much more time on client signing and client service,” while still representing such key acts as Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, which finished at No. 5 on Billboard Boxscore’s top tours of 2024 chart with a $235.6 million gross and 1.6 million tickets sold. He’s also putting “a lot more time into working with, and mentoring, young agents and their clientele,” and “my expanded role in the overall management of CAA has allowed me to work on projects and initiatives I have always felt we should be involved in.”

His promotion leaves CAA’s music department in the hands of Emma Banks, Darryl Eaton and Rick Roskin, all of whom were promoted to co-heads of global touring in June. They lead a music team that, Light says, “has continued to grow and thrive.”

This year’s top 100 tours took in $9.1 billion, a 21.6% increase in revenue over the previous year, and Light sees the live industry as the No. 1 marketing tool available to today’s new artists. “I feel agents have become the new A&R executives, using their talent, vision and ears to identify trends and stars.”

While online and social media have become more important in the music industry, Light stresses the impact of live performance, “which is the only direct interaction with the artist and the fan.” —T.M.

From the time Creed launched Good World Management in August 2023, he says his roster has enjoyed “huge personal best and cultural moments” — especially last year. Mark Ronson scored an Academy Award nomination for best original song with Barbie’s “I’m Just Ken”; Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine spawned two Hot 100 No. 1 singles (“yes, and?,” “We Can’t Be Friends”) and she received her first Golden Globe nomination for her role as Galinda/Glinda in Wicked; Demi Lovato co-directed and co-produced the documentary Child Star; Charli xcx dominated summer with her acclaimed album brat; and she and Troye Sivan sold out venues including Madison Square Garden in New York and Kia Forum in Los Angeles on their co-headlining Sweat Tour. (In June, they will perform at Primavera Sound Barcelona.) Says Creed: “The innovative approach to the show that Charli and Troye took, and the safe space they created every night on tour, was an absolute highlight.” —Lyndsey Havens