PwC Report: Music Industry Contributed $484 Million to New Zealand GDP in 2015

October 25th 2016
The 2015 PwC report was released today, commissioned by Recorded Music NZ, APRA AMCOS and The NZ Music Commission with the support of NZ On Air, Te Mangai Paho, Creative New Zealand, Independent Music NZ and The Music Managers Forum.

2015 PwC report highlights:

  • The music industry contributed $484 million to NZ’s economy
  • The music industry in NZ supported employment of 4,508 full-time equivalent workers (FTEs)


The report reveals the New Zealand music industry in NZ contributed $484 million and 4,508 full time equivalent jobs (FTEs) in 2015. It was a year of total growth and four out of five market segments grew.

The two largest contributors were music radio broadcasting and live music performance.  Music radio broadcasting contributed $214.5 million and live music performance (primarily driven by a number of international heritage acts touring NZ in 2015) contributed $157.8 million, which collectively amounts to 77 per cent of the music industry’s 2015 total GDP contribution.


Music retailing – the physical and digital sales of music, including traditional and store-based retailing, online stores and payments for online music streaming services - generated a total economic impact of $78.9 million and the equivalent of 407 full-time jobs.


This is an increase from 2014’s $71.2 million, boosted by the growing popularity of streaming services nationwide. The gross output from online streaming almost doubled between 2014 ($18.6 million) and 2015 ($36.8 million), indicating consumers have moved towards an on-demand consumption preference – especially as the popularity of services such as Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora continue to grow.

Communication and public performance contributed $28.9 million to the economy and the equivalent of 352 full-time jobs. The subsector includes royalties derived from music played on radio, television and the internet as well as music played in public such as at retailers, hospitality outlets, education facilities and gyms.

Synchronisation, referring to the royalties earned from licensing music for use in advertisements, games, films and television programmes, contributed $4.1 million and the equivalent of 50 full-time jobs to the economy.

You can download a PDF of the full report Economic contribution of the New Zealand music industry 2015 here, and download PDF of the overview infograph Employment and national GDP impacts of the music industry in New Zealand 2015 here.


Notes:

The report analysed the direct economic impacts of the music industry, the impacts of music spending which occur when the music industry purchases goods and services from other industries, and the induced impacts which are generated when wages or salaries earnt in the industry are spent on other goods and services. The total economic impact of the industry includes all of these effects.


Back to Commission News