For a superb, in-depth analysis of many key industry issues I'd recommend this article from the medium site.
This graph from medium's feature (1 of several there) is a great visual summary of the massive impact of digital disruption - which, remember, is especially linked to developments in online distribution.
As someone who has traded on BitCoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies, I have a decent grasp on the concept. Mass craziness as far as I'm concerned, with an absurd concentration of ownership in few hands, and emerging as a serious driver of climate change.
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HOW STREAMING PAYMENTS REFLECT BIG 3'S 75% MARKET SHARE
https://boingboing.net/2021/09/26/how-a-math-trick-helped-one-band-made-500-more-in-streaming-music-royalties.html
LOVE ISLAND IS MAJOR HITMAKER
The ultra-trashy 'reality' show uses a lot of obscure musicians, part of its targeting of gen Z/Y, who often find their work appearing in the charts as a result. A combination of Shazaming tunes and the show's Spotify playlists supercharge the popularity of many of the songs/artists featured. Guardian.
K-POP FANS BUY ADS FOR THEIR HEROES...AMD FOOD CARTS
BBC reports on the K-Pop stans, who buy as space worldwide, not just in Korea - and make charity donations.
TRIVIUM MAKE MORE FROM TWITCH THAN ALL OTHER AUDIO SITES COMBINED!
Loudwire interviews Matt Healy on this crazy stat! Metalsucks lays out the key figures - $10k a month from 224k listeners. That works out x10 the revenue/payment rate of music streaming (vastly bigger audience...for same payment!).
MUSIC RIGHTS NEW MONOPOLIST: HIPGNOSIS
DB ANALYSIS: Elberse did a very convincing job of destroying the credibility of the long tail theory in her Blockbusters book, showing that a small number of tentpole hits (in books, games, film, music) account for the vast bulk of sales. Since she wrote this the same has been observed of Spotify. However - that overlooks the revenue from back-catalogue music (and TV/film through multiple global channels) from radio, TV, film and games licensing ... not to mention advertising. So perhaps Malcolm Gladwell's concept has some meaning after all?
Guardian. 'The London-listed company, which earns royalties every time one of the 65,000 songs to which it owns the rights is played, said that revenues climbed 66% from $83m (£59m) to $138m in the year to the end of March.
Hipgnosis, which spent $1bn buying 84 new song catalogues last year, said the increase in streaming while the live music sector remained shut down fuelled a 50% increase in profits to $107m.'
UK MUSIC STARS LAUNCH CAMPAIGN FOR MUSIC STREAMING REGULATOR AND FAIR PAYMENTS
Guardian. 'It argues that streaming via services such as Spotify and Apple Music be legislated more like radio. “The law has not kept up with the pace of technological change and, as a result, performers and songwriters do not enjoy the same protections as they do in radio,” the letter states. “Today’s musicians receive very little income from their performances – most featured artists receive tiny fractions of a US cent per stream and session musicians receive nothing at all.”
As is stands, streaming royalty rates are set by individual companies, and paid to artists either directly or via their record label. The campaign wants to see a change made to the 1988 Copyright Act, so that royalties are paid via a performing rights organisation, just as they are for radio plays. The campaign is also calling for a regulator for the streaming sector.'
There is momentum behind this - the Culture Media and Sport Committee (in the UK parliament) heard Warner's head explain that a million streams would return between £4-5k ... of which artists receive around £1k. Guardian. But search for NUMAN in this post and you'll find Indie artist Gary Numan saying he got a cheque for £37 for 1m streams.
MINDIES - HOW THE BIG 3 ARE BLURRING INDIE BY BUYING UP COMPANIES.. AND THE CAMPAIGN TO STOP THEM
Great article in the Independent explores how the notion of Indie has been blurred as the majors, the big 3 of WUS, buy up lots of Indie companies. A letter was sent to the UK PM this week demanding an immediate investigation into their monopoly.
SPONSORSHIP WAS COMMON IN 1960s!
The Rolling Stones did a Rice Krispies ad!!! Guardian.
UK METALCORE BAND INNOVATE WITH £59.99 MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION - AND THEY HAVE 2,000 SUBSCRIBERS!
While They Sleep, a Sheffield (Northern England) metalcore band, have come up with an innovative way to monetise: a 4-tier subscription at up to £59.99 per month which has over 2,000 active subscribers! This is no faked social media access - they do things like give top-tier subscribers vocal lessons! BBC.
MARCH 2021
2021
GLOBAL REVENUES RECOVER TO 2002 LEVELS
Given inflation, not quite having gotten back to the revenue level of 19 years ago isn't exactly impressive, but so huge has the post-1999 fall been that it's seen as a huge milestone. The Financial Times report in detail.
STANS TOGETHER: HOW FAN INSTAS GROUP TOGETHER
Neat Guardian feature on the often very niche 'stans' on Instagram and how they provide a sense of identity (yes, think U+G here) and belonging, while the page owners often link up with other page owners too, on top of the sense of legitimation provided by followers, community comment feed and occasional interaction with the object of their fandom. Think of it partially as creating agency from what might be seen as a very passive pursuit. Here's an interesting psychology perspective:
'Psychologist Dr Karen Dill-Shackleford of Fielding Graduate University in California, says this kind of fandom stems from a need for “intimate connection”. “We identify with these celebrities as an extension of ourselves,” she says. “Often we know more about celebrities than we do about people in our own lives, so we might naturally feel drawn to them. It doesn’t necessarily matter how famous a person is, as long as we recognise that identification. We’re pretty much all fans of something or someone.”
Shackleford describes the one-way relationship that many fans have with their celebrities idols as “parasocial”. “These relationships can help build empathy with others and if it is a fictional character we identify with, it can help develop our imaginations or challenge our perspectives by engaging with them and their other fans,” she says.
Shackleford explains that the “deindividuation” of social media – the loss of self-awareness when part of a group or not being able to say something to a person’s face – can account for some of the negativity described by the page owners. “This is why moderation of these communities is important,” she says, “that can then allow these spaces to become ones of connection and a much-needed comfort in a time of limited social interaction, as we’ve had during the coronavirus pandemic.”'
VINYL FINALLY TURNS THE TABLES ON CD REVENUE AFTER 1987 REVERSE...BUT THERE ARE ONLY TEN MAJOR PRODUCTION PLANTS
Guardian reports that UK vinyl sales are highest in revenue terms (£86.5m) since 1989, and rose 1/3 while CD revenues dropped 1/3 over 2020 to £115m and are expected to drop below vinyl in 2021. It has been demand for classic pop and rock vinyl that's driven the boom during covid. I've succumbed myself, splashing out on Rattle and Hum, Danzig and Masters of Reality - which, thinking about it, are all from 1988!
'Income from all digital channels, including ad-supported streaming, royalties from music videos played on YouTube and the dwindling market for music downloads, hit £782m last year – almost four times the size of income from the physical market in the UK.'
So... A bright future... Aside from the slight issue if growing delays (averaging 5-7 months) in getting vinyl pressed as there are only 10 significant pressing plants worldwide with no new major additions planned. See SuperDeluxeEdition.
TIKTOK RISE
TechRadar with a feature on how TikTok has become a key part of the music industry, including deals signed with the big 3.
SLEEP APP CALM'S HOUR LONG POP REMIXES
Yet another way to demonstrate the end of THE text as a singular definitive entity. Though the idea of an hour-long Katy Perry mix would surely cause nightmares? Guardian.
MUSIC BIZ GETS INTO NFTs (LIKE BITCOIN), MAKES MILLIONS: DEADMAU5, SHAWN MENDES, KINGS OF LEON
Now the music industry is jumping on board with NFTs, non-fungible tokens, after artist Beeple raised $80m by selling prints this way.
DJ-producer 3LAU is the pioneer, though several more high profile artists have already jumped in too in what's almost instantly become a multi-billion new market, eg
Feb. 25 auction of 33 collectible NFT — non-fungible token — versions of his 3-year-old album, Ultraviolet, that sold for $11.7 million (one NFT went for $3.6 million) — which included vinyl, unreleased music and the chance to record with 3LAU. That’s real money for a virtual good, setting a record for the primary sale of an NFT collection at the time and making history as the first album to be tokenize
Don't try to make sense of it, it truly is as mad as the 1630s tulip craze! Billboard.
The Indie did another feature drilling into Kings of Leon's use of NFTs, originally trying to stop ticket scalping.
The Guardian report on how pieces of art and tweets are being used for NFTs ... without the creators' permission.
BusinessInsider did another detailed feature on how artists can use NFTs to monetise their artwork and more personal products as well as music - and use it as a means to sidestep record labels.
APRIL 2021 UPDATE: CONFUSION OVER RIGHTS
Guardian reports an example where a band's song was sold as an NFT without their (or their label or publishing rights holder) involvement. They get an offer of 0.07% of the NFT sale value to waive all future rights ... and realise to do so would put them in breach of their publishing contract.
FEMALE ARTISTS BEHIND JUST 20% OF BIG HITS BUT PRODUCERS A MERE 2%
The gender issue in the film industry is well known with Geena Davis' campaign throwing an unflattering public eye on the patriarchy there - which does seem to be changing. I was a little surprised to read of the overwhelming male dominance of the top 100 artists when so many of the absolute biggest stars are female.
The Guardian reports: 'In 2020, women were outnumbered on the US Billboard charts by men at a ratio of 3.9 to 1, according to the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative’s annual study of the Billboard Hot 100 year-end chart.
Women including Dua Lipa, Maren Morris, Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion made up 20.2% of the 173 artists that appeared on the chart in 2020, dropping from 22.5% in 2019 – and a high of 28.1% in 2016.'
MUSIC INDUSTRY BLOG MARCH 2021 SUMMARY
Great source, excellent overview.
£37 FOR 1 MILLION STREAMS
FEB 2021
HIPGNOSIS: DISRUPTOR CHALLENGING BIG 3
Guardian. The big 3 of production/distribution are also the big 3 of music publishing, They're happy for labels/artists to get 5x the revenue share of songwriters/publishers, so their publishing subsidiaries are smaller than their labels. Hipgnosis has been buying up publishing rights then focusing on licensing deals through games, TV, film and ads to boost their monetisation - BUT still retaining an artist-friendly brand selection - see the $m MacDonalds offer rejected for a Eurythmics hit!
'Out of every pound spent on streaming, around 58p goes to artists and record labels for the recordings, while only 12p goes to songwriters and publishers for the songs. This inequity, enshrined in the industry for decades, was being highlighted by the growing importance of professional songwriters. The last Billboard No 1 album not to feature a single additional songwriting credit was Bob Dylan’s Tempest, in 2014; Beyoncé’s Lemonade, by contrast, featured almost 40.
Mercuriadis says that song management is partly a question of manpower: a staffer at a publisher might handle 20,000 songs, whereas a Hipgnosis employee will be responsible for no more than 2,000, so that each one gets serious attention.
Mercuriadis tells me that he turned down a seven-figure offer from McDonald’s for Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) by Eurythmics, which is one of the most streamed songs from 1983. “What’s a great way to kill off what is special about that song? Put it in a McDonald’s commercial.”'
JAN 2021
£37 FOR 1 MILLION STREAMSNIRVANA RED CASSETTE TAPE FOR VALENTINE'S DAY
And so the retro-cult of tapes that many buyers have no equipment to actually play continues... Bleach is getting a limited release of 500. NME.
OVERVIEW OF MULTIPLE SMALL-SCALE SPOTIFY ALTERNATIVES
Safe to say you WON'T have heard of most of these, an interesting mix of alternative models that have in common an attempt to pay the artist a much higher return than the Spotify/Deezer/Apple average of 0.004p per stream. Guardian.
JOURNALOFMUSIC offer this detailed analysis of 2021 prospects - arguing the industry will experience a boom.
UK 2020 TOP 40 VINYL MOSTLY CLASSICS
Lot of decent music in this list. Plus Lewis Capaldi and Harry Styles. NME.
HOW GAGA MADE $150m. Forbes YT video.
DEC 2020
CASSETTE SALES REWIND TO 2003
Cassette sales rewind ... highest UK sales since 2003 at 157k ... Just a bit of catching up to do with vinyl (4.8m), but unlike vinyl it's not a retro market - Lady Gaga was the biggest seller in 2020. BBC. The Guardian reflected on these figures in Jan 2021, noting that streaming accounted for 80% of CONSUMPTION (not the same as revenue) in 2020, with UK CD sales down a third IN A YEAR to 16m ... but still the main factor in album chart success
Always a good source for detailed, insightful analysis.
There really isn't anything that musicians won't attempt to sell - Motley Crue hot sauce anyone? (The Scorpion is their hottest - big deal!)
ARTISTS SELL BACK CATALOGUES AS INDUSTRY REVIVAL HITS 5TH YEAR --- 450m PAID STREAM SUBSCRIPTIONS
Guardian. Loads of great info in this article about Dylan selling his 600 song back catalogue for $300m to Universal, with the Hipgnosis stock fund now up to £1.2bn spending on 117 back catalogues.
Spotify is booming - up 30% since 2019
Back catalogues are seeing a big revenue rise, eg Bon Jovi's 1986 hit Livin' on a Prayer is up 153% on streams since 2013
'Last year global music sales grew for the fifth consecutive year, to $20.2bn, driven by a 23% growth in streaming, having hit a low of $14bn in 2013.'
Warner's stock market float saw its value up from $3.3bn in 2011 to $12bn now, with Universal up to $30bn.
'Artists and songwriters receive a royalty every time a song is played on the radio, streamed or used in public places such as department stores, as well as income from sales of albums, singles and licensing music for use in TV adverts and films.'
NEIL YOUNG SELLS 50% TO HIPGNOSIS
Yet another major star joins the selling out. Guardian.
BIG 3 FUND ROXI: MUSIC ON TV
Guardian. You may spot Kylie-fronted ads.
'Roxi touts itself as the world’s first “made for TV” music experience, offering products including karaoke and a 55m song catalogue, and is currently available on Sky’s Q service and Google’s Android TV.'
A stock market listing is likely to raise £200m and it plans to 'expand the service to potentially 500m devices by 2022 by launching on platforms from Samsung and LG smart TVs to PlayStation and Apple TV.'
GAGA ON SWEET OREO COOKIES
CNN. News of Gaga doing a fairly exploitative tie-in with Oreos. She must really love her Little Monsters to further encourage the endemic obesity in the US - as junk food, any UK and for this line would face a UK ban!
NOV 2020 UK DRILL RAPPER HAS TO CLEAR LYRICS AND VIDS WITH OLD BILL
Guardian. I've blogged about drill before, and the extraordinary powers that the UK police have granted themselves to ban live performances by such artists. This is an example of a drill artist who has to check every lyric, every video with the police.
Such detailed state pre-publication censorship was the norm for US film from the 1930s under the Hayes Code; and UK TV through its early years in the 50s and 60s under the IBA. But with "light-touch" regulation now the norm, this is extreme for the modern era. Is it coincidental that drill is especially popular with working class and BAME Brits? Digga D ended up getting an official warning for supporting BLM.
If you read even the briefest of histories of music censorship you should quickly suss that ethnic minorities and leftists have been key targets - as is any music that then crosses over to the white middle classes, as rap first did in the mid-late 80s, leading to record store owners being jailed for selling a 2 Live Crew 12" and Ice-T getting threatened by the FBI (heavy metal was a co-target of the PMRC campaign). Defending Digga D sounds like an interesting doc.
NOV 2020 SPOTIFY PAYOLA: TAKE LOWER ROYALTIES FOR ALGORITHM BOOST Guardian.
As a musicians union demands a flat rate of 1c per stream, Spotify offers a cut...in return for boosting the promotion of an artist, notably in the artist or track radio tool
IMO: this is the sort of behaviour that exposes the lack of regulation of the digital disruptors and should attract political attention for potential regulation, just as Instagram has been forced to label promotional posts. But right-wing governments are less likely to do so.
SPOTIFY RATES...
Guardian.
OCT 2020 NEW STREAMING START-UPS OFFERING ARTISTS HOPE + A BETTER DEAL
Guardian.
OCT 2020 UK GOV INVESTIGATE STREAMING IMPACT AND FAIRNESS OF PAYMENTS
Music streaming in the UK brings in more than £1bn a year in revenue. “However, artists can be paid as little as 13% of the income generated,” a statement said. Spotify is thought to pay between £0.002 and £0.0038 per stream. Apple Music pays about £0.0059.
Guardian.
OCT 2020 - KANYE, MASTERS AND HOW ACTS CAN DO WITHOUT A RECORD LABEL TODAY... (Guardian)
There are multiple success stories in recent years of artists who have topped the charts and won awards without signing to a major label, keeping hold of their master rights. In the UK, those include Jorja Smith, Little Simz, AJ Tracey, Gerry Cinnamon, Tom Misch and Skepta, to name a few. At the same time artists without any record label setup – ie those just using distribution services to get their music to streaming platforms and retailers – represent the fastest-growing segment of the global recorded music business, according to Midia Research. In 2019, DIY artists generated $873m (£675m) in revenue, a figure that’s up 32% from 2018, counting for a 4.1% share of the global music industry.While this shift has been happening, a wealth of companies have arrived to service independent artists with deals that either take a relatively small cut of earnings or charge a flat fee. Publisher Kobalt is one of these, which also has a label called AWAL, branding itself as a transparent global music partner that offers all the services major labels and publishers do but on far more favourable terms. Artists and songwriters keep 100% of their rights, aren’t locked into deals, can see how much money they are earning via an online portal and can also access advances on future earnings.In addition to Kobalt and many other “label services” companies that have similar offerings, there are several DIY services that act as distributors, some of which offer advances, such as Amuse, Stem, TuneCore and DistroKid, and self-proclaimed “fourth-biggest major label” BMG, offering artists a 75% share of revenue with 25% retained by the company. Well-funded publisher Hipgnosis Songs has been buying up high-value publishing catalogues, partly in a bid to have enough clout to demand better royalty rates for songwriters as the company grows in size and value.
THE BIGGEST ROCK ACT OF 2020... THE BEATLES?!
See article.
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