The Independent Music Business Is Going Global

Last week we attended AIM Connected hosted by the UKs Association of Independent Music. 

What we know is that the independent music sector has always looked beyond borders. But as global music consumption continues to shift, international growth is becoming less of an ambition and more of a commercial necessity.

That was one of the clearest themes to emerge from discussions at AIM Connected, where representatives from across the independent sector explored the changing music markets in the UK, US, South Korea and Brazil.

The numbers tell a story of a global market that continues to expand, but not evenly. Different territories bring different audiences, platforms, revenue opportunities and routes to market. For independent music companies, understanding those differences is becoming increasingly important.

In this article, we explore the deep dives and discussions from the 2026 conference. 

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The UK’s strength increasingly lies beyond its borders

The UK remains one of the world’s most important music markets, with around 110 billion streams and continued growth in consumption. As Adrian Sarosi from Luminate explained. 

But domestic growth is slower than the global rate, while markets including India and Mexico are expanding rapidly. 

That makes exports increasingly important.

British music remains a major global force, with the UK still the world’s second-largest exporter of music. British artists rank within the Top 50 in 39 international markets and within the Top 100 in 48, according to data presented by Luminate.

The US is particularly significant. While international repertoire continues to take a greater share of US listening, UK music has itself gained market share there.

For independent companies, the opportunity isn't necessarily about creating an entirely different strategy for every country. It is increasingly about identifying where an artist already has an audience and building from there.

You don't have to “break America” anymore

The US remains the world's largest recorded music market, but the way international artists can approach it is changing.

Nearly one in ten streams in the US is now of Spanish-language music, while 7.8% of US streaming consumption comes from UK music, according to figures shared from Chirag Patel from American Association of Independent Music.

The old idea of having to “break America” as one enormous market therefore looks increasingly outdated. An artist might have a meaningful audience in Los Angeles, New York or Nashville without having widespread recognition across the country. Streaming data can help identify those pockets of demand, allowing teams to build communities around existing signals rather than attempting to manufacture nationwide momentum.

And streams aren't the only measure that matters.

Physical music revenues in the US grew strongly, while vinyl continues to attract younger consumers. For independents, a relatively small group of highly engaged fans buying records, merchandise, tickets and limited-edition products can potentially be more valuable than a much larger passive streaming audience.

That changes the question from “How many people are listening?” to “How valuable is the relationship with those listeners?”

Local knowledge still matters

While digital platforms have made music globally accessible, international expansion isn't frictionless. South Korea provides a particularly useful example.

As one of the world's largest recorded music markets and a major gateway into Asia, it offers significant opportunities for international repertoire. But its ecosystem differs substantially from markets such as the UK and US, as Marty Ro from Sound Republica explained. 

Domestic DSPs remain important, local charts can provide a much clearer picture of genuine market traction, and local distribution and promotional relationships can play an important role in reaching Korean audiences.

Similar lessons emerged from Brazil. Now one of the world's largest recorded music markets, Brazil continues to see strong growth driven predominantly by streaming. But Portuguese-language repertoire, local distributors, collecting structures and Brazil's particularly social music culture all shape how companies need to approach the territory, as Felippe Llerena from ABMI - Associação Brasileira da Música Independente discussed. 

Global distribution may make a recording available everywhere. Making it successful everywhere is a different challenge.

Independence increasingly means interdependence

Perhaps one of the most interesting ideas of the day came from Curve's Richard Leach, who questioned what we actually mean when we describe a music business as “independent”.

No music company truly operates independently. Labels rely on distributors. Publishers rely on collection societies. Artists rely on labels, managers, technology providers and platforms. Those companies in turn rely on DSPs, licensing partners and countless other businesses.

The independent music business is therefore increasingly interdependent: a network of businesses that depend on one another while retaining the autonomy to make their own decisions.

As those relationships become more complicated, the infrastructure supporting them matters too. Catalogs are larger. Rights cross territories. Metadata needs to move between more partners. Licensing opportunities can originate anywhere. Royalties need to be tracked across an increasingly fragmented global ecosystem.

International growth doesn't just create more opportunity. It creates more operational complexity.

Giving independents the room to grow

That growth also depends on independent companies having the economic headroom to continue investing.

The Association of Independent Music used AIM Connected to call for an urgent, evidence-led investigation into the economics of recording and releasing music, arguing that independent labels are increasingly carrying the risk associated with developing new artists while dealing with rising costs, export challenges, streaming economics and AI.

AIM CEO Gee Davy described independent music as the “economic canary in the coalmine” for the wider UK industry and argued that better data is needed to demonstrate where targeted intervention could help businesses continue investing in new music.

The importance of stronger industry data was also raised by the UK government's new Music Champion Michael Dugher, who challenged the sector to better demonstrate its economic contribution and provide evidence of what works.

For an industry built around taking risks on music before anyone knows whether it will succeed, that matters.

A global opportunity, with more moving parts

The opportunity for independent music has arguably never been more international.

A UK artist can develop a fanbase in the US without “breaking America”. A successful release in South Korea can create opportunities across Asia. Brazil's rapidly growing market can open an entirely new audience. Physical formats, live music and direct-to-fan relationships can deepen the value of those audiences beyond streaming alone.

But taking advantage of that opportunity requires more than simply putting music on global platforms.

It requires local knowledge, strong partnerships, accurate rights and metadata, an understanding of where audiences are forming and the infrastructure to manage an increasingly international operation.

The future of independent music may be global. But, increasingly, success will come from understanding the individual markets, partners and fans that make up that global picture.