Omdia: UAE tops Omdia’s inaugural Middle East recorded-music opportunity index

• The UAE offers music companies the best prospects for selling recorded-music in the Middle East.
• The country came out on top in Omdia’s first ever Middle East opportunity index.
• All of the ten countries chosen for the index will see conditions for recorded-music growth improve over the next five years.
• Piracy is still a threat to the legal sector, but consumers are turning to music streaming services in increasing numbers.

LONDON, November 13, 2023 – The UAE has come top in Omdia’s inaugural Middle East opportunity index for recorded-music sales. The country ranked highly for several factors, including payments, mobile and smartphone population penetration, and service availability. Although the UAE is one of the smaller of the ten countries forming part of the index in terms of absolute numbers, Omdia’s new research shows that a high proportion of the population is well-placed to sign up to a music subscription service in that they have the ability to pay and can afford the price charged. Service availability is also good, with many of the leading international streamers (Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube Music etc.,) all operating in the country. 

The index is based on several Omdia and economic datasets that have been used to formulate a final score for each country. All the datasets were given a weighting based on considered relative importance. The datasets were also given a tiering range and allotted a score to be used as part of the indexing process. Based on the input of the separate dataset scores, the UAE came top in 2023 and remained the leading market in terms of opportunity for digital music sales in 2027.

Middle East opportunity index scores by country, 2027

Source: Omdia

“Selling recorded-music in the Middle East has always been a difficult ask. Before the rollout of any digital services, music retailing offered little return to record companies compared with developed markets in the West. Piracy was dominant and consumers were not enthused enough to pay. But the climate is changing, with optimism boosted by the arrival and take-up of music streaming services. Some countries in the region have more potential than others, and the Omdia opportunity index shows exactly which ones are best placed to generate meaningful returns on investment. The Middle East is looking like it may finally become a real hot spot for recorded music,” commented Simon Dyson, Omdia’s Senior Principal Analyst, Music, and Digital Audio.

Out of the middling countries, the index shows that Egypt is one that is worth keeping an eye on. It has the highest population by far of the ten and scores high for absolute mobile and smartphone numbers. Where the country loses marks is in penetration rates and the ability to pay. Egypt has very low debit and credit card numbers, and more than two-thirds of the population are unbanked. However, Egypt’s index score for 2027 is higher than all the leading countries’ 2023 scores. In other words, as prospects go for countries ripe for exploitation, in a few years from now, Egypt is the clear leader.