_The Creative Wealth of Nations_ take an integrated approach, working with labels and artists, distributors and aggregators, and Digital Service Providers.

These new technologies are now seen as the likely hope for an industry that has suffered persistent losses. (See box 10 for 2013 revenue percentages in the United States.) Although the worldwide revenues for music labels fell by 4 percent to USD$15 billion in 2013, this reversal of the slight rise in 2012 was “due to Japanese consumers finally giving up on CDs, as much as the rest of the world had already done. A closer look shows that streaming services are starting to bring the business back into profit in countries that have suffered steady declines, such as Italy.”<sup>172</sup> Moreover, aside from worries “that streaming may cannibalize downloads,” streaming helps independent labels enjoy “the double market share they had on CDs.”<sup>173</sup> International trade in this medium is also expanding: via streaming, music easily travels beyond national boundaries, tapping into revenues from far-flung markets.<sup>174</sup> In the GATS this may fall under Mode I (cross border supply).

In Asia, in addition to China’s streaming services controlled by Tencent, Alibaba and China Mobile — these are the country’s major internet companies<sup>175</sup> — there are emerging startups like KKBOX that are making inroads in the Asian digital music market. In Africa, these include Africori, Djindo, iROKO Partners, Musique Kabyle, and Spinlet.

But with respect to international trade and development, a closer analysis suggests what some have accused the TRIPS framework itself: even in the malleable trade of music, the system seems to be working in favor of enabling providers in developed countries to effectively capture markets in developing countries, (even if piracy cuts into their profits). It is not the other way around. Moreover, other domestic matters also count.

Take Spotify, a music streaming service based in Stockholm, which has been credited for the Swedish music industry’s growth.<sup>176</sup> It benefits from domestic enablement: Sweden adapted broadband early, and in 2009 it passed an “anti-piracy law that probably nudged some to switch from illegal downloading.” Thus Sweden is “not a perfect template for other countries”:<sup>177</sup> Digital downloads never became popular there, so there was not a rival digital technology to cannibalise. The switch to streaming may take a lot longer in countries where there is not such a high proportion of technophile consumers and where there is no successful homegrown streaming service to rally behind.<sup>178</sup> As we shall see in the section on policy suggestions, there are many other aspects including broadband connectivity, financing mechanisms and regulatory frameworks needed for indigenous creative businesses in the developing world to flourish. It is reasonable to ask how

> 172 _Economist_ , The Music Industry: Beliebing in Streaming, March 22, 2014, 63, accessed June 17, 2014, <u>http://www.economist.com/news/business/21599350-record-bosses-now-hope-online-streaming-could-become-bigenough-business-arrest-their.</u>

> 173 Ibid.

> 174 Ibid.

> 175 Robert Cookson, “Streaming Is the Answer for Chinese Music Industry,” _Financial Times_ , May 28, 2014, accessed June 17, 2014, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/60255bc6-e4c0-11e3-894f- <u>00144feabdc0.html#axzz34qE5q33X.</u>

> 176 _Economist_ , Music in Sweden: I Have a Stream, March 22, 2014, 64, accessed June 17, 2014, <u>http://www.economist.com/news/business/21599353-land-abba-takes-streaming-i-have-stream.</u> 177 Ibid. 178 Ibid.

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