INDUSTRY 2021 The ongoing DDC tornado...

For a superb, in-depth analysis of many key industry issues I'd recommend this article from the medium site.

My previous multiply updated post, tracking 2018-19, carries a detailed breakdown of the key staging points from 1999 to today, including briefly huge markets that exploded into prominence then disappeared. I also did a further summary post! And there are MANY more posts you can browse via the tags...

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.

HEADLINE

DB

HEADLINE

DB

HEADLINE

DB

HEADLINE

DB

HEADLINE

DB

HEADLINE

DB

HEADLINE

DB

HEADLINE

DB

HEADLINE

DB

HEADLINE

DB

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.”

DISTRIBUTION strategies to game streaming success

This is one of a series of features by the iconic music magazine investigating the current state of the music industry. Another looks at the shocking rise of pay-to-play, or payola as the banned practice is also known, and explains how paying $1000 for 2 plays after midnight on some obscure station can be parlayed into attention from bigger stations (swayed by the 'most added' stats on songs getting added to stations' playlists).

Very much worth examining the naming strategy etc in this article, techniques you might reflect in your own designs...

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/gaming-search-hits-878127/

DISTRIBUTION ads used to game YouTube views numbers

https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2019/08/new-way-to-game-youtube-views-being-utilized-by-artists-labels.html

INDIE STREAMING labels launching mini-Spotify

https://theconversation.com/independent-music-labels-are-creating-their-own-streaming-services-to-give-artists-a-fair-deal-81578

DIGITISATION album sales halve 2015-18 singles rule again

Lot of great detail here, the bottom line being not just the accelerating decline of physical media sales, but the death of the album - with examples given such as Drake's 25-track album where 3 songs account for over 60% of all streams from the album, 19 others a combined 18%!

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/the-album-is-in-deep-trouble-and-the-music-business-probably-cant-save-it-753795/

STREAMING free People offers artists alternative

People: how the National and Bon Iver's streaming service frees musicians?

An artist-led alternative to the giants like Spotify

What that means is that People – the platform – will not be a home for big exclusives, for must-listen Mondays, for tomorrow’s hits today. It’s a place where artists can place their unfinished work, their ephemera, the stuff that doesn’t fit into their main body of work, but which they feel has worth. They don’t need to do complicated licensing deals – as long as they have a login, they can upload their own music – and if they want to take it down and rework it for something else, they can. People is a place for artists to do what they want, entirely free of commercial expectation.“Take a band that releases 10 songs on a record,” Bryce says. What about the other 30 songs they didn’t release? What about the way those songs changed? What about the out-takes? All that stuff is fascinating, but it doesn’t have a place where it can live. Hopefully this will be an environment where new types of music, new types of collaboration can pop up that don’t fit in with a standard release. If it’s just National B-sides, it won’t be a success.”Sign up for the Sleeve Notes email: music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras“It feels like one of the major reasons ‘pro’ musicians get caught up and lose focus, consistency and confidence is because they sometimes have to wait to put albums out months after they are done,” Justin Vernon says, “and that really screws with your rhythm. So for me, People is a necessity for publishing certain music without cause for PR alarm, or any other reason than just to publish it.”“It feels like one of the major reasons ‘pro’ musicians get caught up and lose focus, consistency and confidence is because they sometimes have to wait to put albums out months after they are done,” Justin Vernon says, “and that really screws with your rhythm. So for me, People is a necessity for publishing certain music without cause for PR alarm, or any other reason than just to publish it.”

DOWNLOADS DEAD? iTunes ceases from 2019

I've blogged on this before, predicting the digital download would all but disappear in as little as 2-3 years ... and here we go.

The market-dominating iTunes will cease to offer downloads to 'own' (the legal status is controversial, but ownership is clearly restricted compared to physical media) from 2019, as streaming surfs to the top of Apple's, and the wider music industry's, strategy.

The dominant mode of distribution not so long ago is rapidly disappearing, though I'm sure some smaller sites will continue to offer DL options. How many major artists will bother offering this? Could still be quite a few - many digipak and vinyl sets come with DL codes for MP3 or even FLAC files.

https://www.baeblemusic.com/musicblog/4-13-2018/itunes-announces-all-music-downloads-will-be-shut-down-and-its-not-a-black-mirror-episode.html

MUSIC INDUSTRY 2018 some pointers

This is a quick post inspired by encountering the site musicbusinessworldwide.com

UPDATE: Useful review of music video trends in 2918, including the return of mega-budgets for a handful of elite artists:

Drake’s mates and Taylor Swift’s cosplay: exploring the 2018 music video

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/may/19/drakes-mates-and-taylor-swifts-cosplay-exploring-the-2018-music-video?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

I was looking for some info on the 1D GCSE exam case study but spotted a number of great articles on here. So here's a few pointers based on the site.

You can find a bullet list I previously did summing up some key music industry points (with many links to posts) here.

AS CDS DISAPPEAR TOURS ARE JUST THE TICKET: 1D EXAMPLE
A point I make many, many times: the traditional music industry model has been through disruption from digitisation (though it hasn't rebalanced the competition in favour of Indies; see Anita Elberse's fascinating analysis of how big 3 acts utterly dominate Amazon sales, making the 'long tail theory' seem absurd), so labels are looking for new revenue sources. Merchandise is a key factor - when I went to see The Wedding Present (UK Indie band) in Luxembourg last year, I got to chat to the singer after the gig, who was at the merch stall signing his own comic book range alongside the usual tee-shirts etc.

The likes of 1D aren't going to do that. They did sell VIP packages for gigs - something else I saw at a Depeche Mode gig, with multiple tiers including a basic that simply allowed you into the venue earlier to hear the soundcheck. I've blogged on Taylor Swift and Katy b Perry doing this, with fans paying a lot for a selfie opportunity. [meet-and-greets post]

The basic breakdown is clear though - most major artists (Indies too) will gain more from tours than album sales. Even combined with streaming (which is now bigger than physical sales and download sales combined) that remains the case. Getting onto TV ads, film/game OSTs are also potentially lucrative.

REPRESENTATION INDUSTRY Swift tailor-made case study

Taylor Swift’s reputation: will her new album silence her critics?

A case study that provides good insight into the changing music industry landscape...

In August, Taylor Swift released Look What You Made Me Do, the first single from her new album, Reputation, which finally emerges from its shroud of secrecy tomorrow. The track and its subsequent video broke three records within a week, including first-day streaming figures on Spotify and YouTube respectively. Swift’s sixth album has already thrashed pre-sale records, selling more than 400,000 copies – partially due to an industry standard reward system that gives early purchasers exclusive priority access to concert tickets.These achievements are fairly typical business for Swift, who often finds herself breaking records that were set with her previous release. She has sold more than 33m albums worldwide, thanks to her reluctance to join Spotify until this summer, keeping her sales robust while most artists have experienced a decline. 

STREAMING Warner soars past $1bn digital revenues

The conglomerate giant doing fine, artists less so...

Ed Sheeran’s Divide puts Warner Music’s streaming income on track to cross £1bn https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/aug/08/ed-sheerans-divide-lifts-warner-musics-streaming-income-to-1bn?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

STREAMING 2.4m YouTube views to earn months minimum wage

http://www.metalsucks.net/2017/08/07/which-streaming-music-service-currently-has-the-best-payout-rate-for-artists/

Spotify chief most powerful figure in music industry

The big three are all represented alongside major management agencies and touring agents, but it's Spotify, seen as responsible for an unexpected rise in music industry revenues, with its 51% share of the US streaming market (a challenge here for Apple, who also feature in the top 10), that tops the pile according to industry magazine Billboard.

Spotify's Daniel Ek named most powerful person in the music business. 

INDUSTRY Big 3 revenues streaming surge

Music streaming hailed as industry's saviour as labels enjoy profit surge https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/dec/29/music-streaming-industry-saviour-labels-spotify-apple-music?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

Will Spotify kill the music download?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/dec/26/spotify-music-download-apple-itunes-streaming-vinyl?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

Record sales: vinyl hits 25-year high

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jan/03/record-sales-vinyl-hits-25-year-high-and-outstrips-streaming?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Copy_to_clipboard

MONETISING, PROMO CAMPAIGNS, BRANDING The Pixies

a branded campaign

As good an example as any, they're highly active across multiple platforms, and even managed to persuade me to lash out on a vinyl copy of their comeback single Bagboy and EP after spotting a promo tweet. Like many who ordered this I don't currently have a record player - the package also came with download codes for high bitrate (quality) MP3s.

Old-school email is a tool they use very effectively - always integrating their other platforms when doing so. These screenshots largely speak for themselves:

• using staggered video releases to push new releases and tours alike
• they've recorded videos for every album (2) and EP track since re-forming, a growing trend (not least as YouTube plays themselves generate revenue)
• the range of videos work to both please their existing, ageing fanbase (the band date back to the late 80s and were a key influence on Nirvana) and to target a new, younger audience too (for sheer inspiration, I highly recommend viewing a batch of these and/or Depeche Mode videos)
• they offer exclusives to various online ezines; an advantage of multiple videos is that they can offer this to a variety of sites over time
• they highlight Twitter, Facebook and Instagram (plus their website), currently the big 3 of social media (surely users will tire of Twitter eventually?!)
• look carefully at the followers/likes numbers, and you'll get a good example of which platforms are most/least significant for a primarily mature adult fanbase
• the emails are not excessive, but often enough to keep prompting fans into potential purchase of recordings, merchandise or tickets, or at worst to view their video/s or visit their online platforms
• the branding is clear: the P in a circle at the bottom of the email; the banner/masthead across their online platforms pushing the latest album, and a consistent image for their user icons
• recordings are offered in multiple formats, including vinyl and boxsets
• there is also a link for streaming
• this is tied into multiple streaming platforms

Skip to 1:43 for 2nd question in this interview in which they discuss social media...(part of my extensive Pixies playlist)

a few of the emails The Pixies (... the marketing agency they've hired!) have sent me.

Details of the latest, plus screenshots from their platforms, are below the read more line

SPOTIFY Fans plan 400m streams to pay Nelly $2m tax

Personally I wouldn't fancy hearing it once, but fans of the nose-adorned rapper are pledging to try and play just one of his tracks 400m times to pay his $2.3m tax bill.

So, Nelly takes money out of your pocket twice over - smooth work.

A single fan could achieve the same outcome by streaming in constant repeat for 2076 years...great figures for bringing the streaming debate to life...

And how many times is that? Somewhere between 280m and 403m.

That’s quite a lot of Nelly. Yes it is. Indeed, it was calculated that if one person were to pay off Nelly’s tax debt by themselves, simply by streaming Hot In Herre over and over again and accumulating the microscopic royalty that goes with each stream, it would take 2,076 years to settle the debt.

Nelly fans hope to pay his taxes – by repeatedly playing Hot In Herre on Spotify http://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2016/sep/14/nelly-fans-hope-to-pay-his-taxes-play-hot-in-herre-on-spotify-savenelly?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

DIGITISATION INDUSTRY Indie strategy for online future

As you embark on creating your own texts and campaigns, try to be mindful of the economic context, which, just as with the film industry, includes a very uneven playing field for Indies compared to the majors. Despite the technotopia imagined by some web 2.0 theorists/evangelists, the reality is proving tough indeed...

Link below the line

DIGITISATION INDUSTRY Infographic on streams needed for minimum wage

We keep hearing that revenues have collapsed from physical media sales, but what about the explosion in streaming and associated revenues? This article puts some figures on that ... using an infographic - good example of how you might this within your blog (or in Evaluation)!

Hyperlink below the line

INDUSTRY US + UK labels row with YouTube, vinyl bigger than streaming

Following on from a recent BPI (UK music industry body) report comes an RIAA (USA equivalent) report making very similar arguments: YouTube is not paying enough, and streams are worth less in total than vinyl sales despite the vastly different numbers involved.

Numbers are what you get plenty of here: clear, precise, specific evidence you can use to show you've got a firm grip on the evolving nature of a digitally disrupted industry.

ARTICLE: YouTube and music labels clash again over 'meagre' artist royalties.

INDUSTRY Can we judge a hit anymore? Rihanna's Anti

Huge amount you can glean from this:

• very precise info on how the US industry officially calculates what streams are worth as notional sales
• an analysis of the confusion over whether Rihanna's new album is a smash hit or a serious flop
• a range of (often hyperlinked) examples of large-scale tie-ins that's seen Samsung especially pay to distribute 1m copies of various albums (including Anti) - not forgetting the controversial U2/Apple case
• a new twist on the use of websites as a promotional tool (Rihanna's bewildering recent effort)
• her full-on use of social media to tease and trail the album ... then delays ... then confusion between streaming company Tidal (she's a major stakeholder) and record label Universal...

ARTICLE: Rihanna's Anti sold fewer than 1,000 copies in a week. Is it a flop?

INDUSTRY Vinyly the truth on streaming value?

As we aren't given a figure to compare vinyl revenues with, and the vinyl figure is the gross retail total, not the amount record companies gained (plus the ongoing industry lobbying against YouTube et al), I'm a little sceptical, but apparently...

 

See YouTube streams less lucrative than vinyl sales for UK labels, says BPI boss.