Number of record labels in Italy 2021, by region

In 2021, Italian record labels concentrated in few regions. As of June 2021, the greatest number of labels was in Lombardy (393), Lazio (219), and Emilia-Romagna (205). This can be associated with the number of record stores in Italy, mainly located in these three regions and also in Veneto and Piedmont.

Death of physical music?

The activities of record labels and record stores are often related to the market of physical music in general. In 2019, while the value of the Italian music streaming market reached about 121 million euros, the market value of physical music decreased to 53 million euros.

Record labels and music streaming: global overview

The business of record labels must not be considered as opposite to the music streaming industry. Record companies had to differentiate their business in order to generate revenues, aside from physical music. Globally, big record labels like Universal, Sony or Warner had significant market shares in the streaming sector and the revenues generated from streaming increased from 1.8 to 4.3 billion U.S. dollars only in the years between 2015 and 2017.