Canada is the world’s third largest music exporter.
This is based on the first “exporting country” rankings in Luminate’s 2024 year-end report. The music data tracking company, which also lists Billboard charts, defines export power as “a country’s ability to export recorded music globally.”
Canada ranks among the top two exporting countries after the United States and the United Kingdom. Canada’s top music importers are the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, and Canada is also the number one importer of U.S. music, highlighting the intertwined nature of the Canadian and U.S. markets.
Other countries in the top 10 include South Korea, Germany, France, Puerto Rico, Australia, Sweden and Brazil.
While this may seem like good news for Canadian music, the report also includes indicators that Canada is not in a growth stage for music exports.
In terms of global premium (audio and video) streaming media share, Canada experienced the third largest decline last year, with its share falling from 3.73% to 3.34%, also lagging behind the United States and the United Kingdom, with Mexico, Brazil and India experiencing the largest declines.
This points to a trend in which music from the Global South – and music in languages other than English – is gaining popularity.
The report also highlights that English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries show different trends in local content versus foreign content.
“English-speaking markets are losing local share to non-English-speaking imports, while many non-English-speaking markets are showing an increasing share of local content,” the report states.
This is further evidence that non-English music is on the rise across the board. In the US, Mexico and Chile (and surprisingly Ireland) saw the largest increases in streaming share, while Canada, the US and Nigeria saw the largest declines. Canada also saw the largest decline in streaming share in the UK, Australia, Japan and Brazil.
However, Canadian songwriters are thriving, thanks in part to some of pop’s biggest stars.
Canada ranks third for songwriter representation among top 1,000 most streamed songs in 2024, again behind US and UK
The Weeknd is a big reason for this ranking, ranking as the third most prolific and most streamed songwriter among the 1,000 most streamed songs.
Pop music is the fastest growing music genre in the United States, followed by rock, Latin music and country music. The growth comes on the back of a big year for female pop stars such as Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpenter, as well as Canadian singer Tate McRae , who ranked ninth on Luminate’s U.S. pop star rankings
View Luminate’s year-end report here to learn more about Canadian data and trends.
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Unison Fund launches relief program for Canadian music workers affected by Los Angeles fires
Canadian music industry charity Unison Fund has launched a new support program for music workers affected by the Los Angeles fires.
The Natural Disaster Relief Program provides one-time payments of $2,500 to Canadian music workers who have suffered losses due to natural disasters, including wildfires.
The scheme is the latest move to support members of the music industry who have suffered devastating losses in the fires, which have killed at least 27 people and destroyed more than 12,000 buildings. As of Thursday, January 16, the Palisades Fire is 22% contained and the Eaton Fire is 45% contained.
“With so many Canadian music professionals living and working in Los Angeles, it was important to create a program that provides meaningful support during difficult times like this,” Executive Director Amanda Ball told us canadian bulletin board.
“The Unison Fund Natural Disaster Relief Program is our way of helping the music community, providing immediate support to help rebuild lives and livelihoods after a crisis.”
Founded in 2010, Unison provides consulting and emergency relief services to Canadian musicians and the music industry. The charity has previously provided emergency support during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, disbursing more than $3.5 million in pandemic assistance.
Canadians affected by the fires include Grammy Award-winning producer Greg Wells, who lost his home, and musicians Chantal Kreviazuk and Wren Maida, who were forced to evacuate. Tim Darcy of Canadian band Cola lost his house in a fire, and friends and community members raised money to help Darcy and his FSR radio partner Amy Fort.
To qualify for the disaster relief program, applicants must have worked continuously in the music industry for five years and derive the majority of their income from music.
