Sweden's CMO revenue to grow by 14.2% in 2023

STIM, the Swedish collective management organization (CMO) turned 100 last fall — and its 2023 results give it yet another reason to celebrate. The agency received a record 3.095 billion Swedish kronor (SEK) ($291.9 million, based on the 2023 average kroner-dollar conversion rate), up 14.2 percent from the previous year, KOA announced on May 28. It also announced it will distribute SEK 2.573 billion ($242.6) — nearly 20% from 2022.

The Swedish CMO has always been much smaller than giant counterparts such as SACEM (the French collective management company) or PRS for Music (UK), due to the country's comparatively smaller population and economy. But Sweden has always punched above its weight in pop music, especially when it comes to songwriting, and STIM is more important than its size would suggest. Together with PRS and GEMA (Germany), STIM owns and controls the ICE consortium, the Berlin-based licensing and processing hub that has become a major force in European copyright.

STIM's largest source of licensing revenue was online, which accounted for 43% of its total, counting both Swedish and direct international licenses. The second largest source was overseas revenue, which accounted for 30%, followed by TV (9%), backstage (7%) and live (4%). Of these revenue streams, live and past revenue grew by 13%, while multi-territory online revenue grew by 27%.

STIM's annual report also includes progress reports on other fronts. After extensive negotiations, the CMO can now pay multi-year royalties from HBO and Disney+, and another deal means the organization will have new prices for live music until January 2025. The CMO also weighed in on AI music in the report “Music, AI and Copyright.”

The most played song of the year in Sweden was 'Babblarnas vaggvisa', by Anneli Tisell, Johan Rask and Hasse Sjölander, according to the annual report.