After years of declining sales, the music industry has seen revenue increases the past few years thanks to growth in streaming. Do you think the industry has finally found a way to adapt to the changes in ways people consume music? Do you think that revenue will continue to increase, flatten, or decline in the coming years? Limit: 10 responses
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ReplyDeleteMusic sales have been consistently decreasing for years due to changes in the way people consume music, especially the limited artist releases that occurred during the pandemic. However, music streaming on platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and more have managed to increase revenue – at least for the companies themselves.
ReplyDeleteStreaming music can be a beneficial way for artists to get their names and sound out there to the public, especially with features like Spotify’s “Discover Weekly.” Additionally, streaming is growing faster than the industry can really keep up with; “IFPI notes that global streaming revenues grew at a 42% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) since 2015, compared to the entire recording industry’s 9% CAGR,” making it a clear front runner to anything else happening (Stone).
However, not all artists are happy with how they are treated by the platform. In a breakdown of the money coming in, it was stated that “For each dollar of revenue Spotify earns, 58.5 cents go to the owner of a song’s sound recording (usually a record label), Spotify keeps 29.38 cents, 6.12 cents go to whoever owns publishing rights (usually the songwriter) and 6 cents goes to mechanical rights (often, but not always, owned by the songwriter),” meaning the person responsible for the music may not be making much at all if anything (Andrews).
That being said, it is notable that physical album sales are up. According to Caulfield, CD, vinyl LP, and cassette recordings “grew by 21.7% in 2021 to 82.79 million (up from 68.06 million in 2020) – thanks largely to the continuing comeback story of the vinyl LP,” which moves along with the trends we’re seeing in regards to “vintage” items.
So, has the music industry cracked the code? At this point, I don’t think so. It can be argued that there will always be problems no matter what the service, but there are still too many kinks to work out and too much up in the air to say that streaming will be a safe spot for the future. Mainly, suppose artists are not making enough revenue to support themselves and their craft on a platform like Spotify. In that case, they will have to find another way to do so, or the streaming platforms will have to adjust their business model. Additionally, it does not seem like traditional album sales are going anywhere. With the way trends are going, it would not surprise me to see a resurgence in CD purchases the way we have with vinyl records within the next few years.
The music industry is changing and adjusting, but I ultimately believe they are going to have to work with a combination of streaming and traditional sales to find success.
Andrews, Travis M. “Spotify Backlash Offers Rare Insight into Reeling Music Industry - and Struggles of Working Musicians.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 23 Feb. 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2022/02/14/spotify-young-rogan-music-industry/.
Caulfield, Keith. “Dua Lipa's 'Levitating' Is Most-Streamed Song of 2021 in U.S., Morgan Wallen's 'Dangerous: The Double Album' Is MRC Data's Top Album.” Billboard, 6 Jan. 2022, https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/dua-lipa-morgan-wallen-us-2021-mrc-data-1235016079/#recipient_hashed=62dfc0b27ad1de67d64a0c44fb55f17fe8a7cd610e9d3f50edf2cced899812f7.
Stone, Jimmy. “The State of the Music Industry in 2020.” Toptal Finance Blog, Toptal, 6 Oct. 2020, https://www.toptal.com/finance/market-research-analysts/state-of-music-industry.
Glenna Gobeil
ReplyDeleteStreaming is the modern approach to attaining music. The Billboard Year-End Report of 2021 provides information on popular music genres throughout the year and the demographics of streaming listeners. Under the 3 G’s of Music, it is revealed that Gen Z is the leading age demographic for music streaming services in most areas in the world (Billboard 6). However, in a few territories such as the UK and Latin America, Millennials surpass the number of Gen Z listeners using music streaming services (Billboard 6). This data suggests that music streaming services rely heavily on Millennial and Gen z listenership. Therefore, it is prominent that they are able to keep their needs satisfied to survive even into the future.
In “What Will Happen to My Music Library When Spotify Dies?” Joe Pinsker highlights concerns to Spotify’s future particularly with millennial and Gen Z audiences that use it the most. Pinsker says Spotify listeners’ ability to access their collection out in the future will depend on the company maintaining its software, renewing its agreements with rights holders, and not going out of business when something else stops the paradigm of music streaming. The points he makes are all critical to music streaming as a whole because Apple Music and Tidal all could face these concerns in the future. I currently know people within the Gen Z demographic that create playlists on Spotify just so they can have them for the future as a remembrance of their youth. I personally believe Pinsker’s concerns are great threats to music streaming platforms in general because they might not uphold audiences expectations in the future if they can not continue to provide them with what they want or maintain the music they are listening to now.
Lucas Shaw identifies a more current problem Spotify and how it is having difficulty maintaining Gen Z’s engagement. He says TikTok has taken away time from Gen Z’s phone usage and describes how that has impacted Spotify’s relevance (Shaw). An interesting point Shaw brings up is how Spotify has maintained relevance in the industry and outbeat many of its competitors such as Apple and Amazon. Therefore, his article proves that listenership on Spotify is not decreasing because of a new music streaming service but rather due to an increase in social media usage amongst Gen Z. Shaw’s article, therefore, brings into question if streaming will die because of an increase in social media usage amongst this audience.
ReplyDeleteMusic streaming, as a concept, became popular because of its convenience factor and access to a limitless library of music.Rather than having to find music online and transferring them to an iPod or going to a store to purchase it, streaming enables listeners to listen when they want with a somewhat limitless library of music. I believe music streaming will continue to exist unless music streaming platforms are incapable of providing listeners with content that they already listened to or will be listening to in the future. However, I also believe revenue could decrease depending on if Gen Z and younger generations choose to spend their time listening to music less often than the previous generation before them and rather use their time streaming TV or using social media as means of entertainment.
Works Cited:
Billboard. Mrcdatareports.com. 2021, https://mrcdatareports.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/MRC_YEAREND_2021_US_FNL.pdf.
Pinsker, Joe. “What Will Happen to My Music Library When Spotify Dies?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 19 July 2021, https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/07/spotify-streaming-music-library/619453/.
Shaw, Lucas. “Spotify Has a Gen Z Problem. Or Is It an Opportunity?” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 19 Dec. 2021, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-12-19/spotify-has-a-gen-z-problem-here-s-how-it-s-learning-from-tiktok.
Paul Logue
ReplyDeleteBlog 5
Part 1
The way we listen to music has changed drastically in just a few years. I can remember not too long ago when my parents would put the radio on. This just isn’t happening anymore in our digital world. Spotify now has 406 million users with 180 million premium subscribers. YouTube has even more with 2 billion monthly music consumers. Midia Research puts the number of paid subscribers worldwide at 487 million, (Dredge). The way we listen to music has totally shifted. Gone are the days of throwing the radio on and just hoping your favorite song comes on. We live in a world where we get instant satisfaction and can put our favorite songs on in seconds via streaming platforms. We can play our favorite songs endlessly. This past year there were 2.74 trillion song streams globally, up 26.3 percent from last year, (Billboard Staff). Music is as popular as it ever has been.
Part 2
ReplyDeletePaul Logue
Consumers have also realized the benefits of paying for a subscription. Spotify is free to start and often get users to pay the $9.99 a month plan just because users don’t want to listen to commercials. The biggest plus to streaming services is their retention rates. 72 percent of Spotify subscribers remain at least 3 months after subscribing, (Wang). Once you subscribe, there isn’t much that is going to make you unsubscribe. It’s not like television or movies where you might unsubscribe because there is no longer content for you, or your favorite show was taken off. People are always going to want to listen to music and these streaming platforms have access to just about every song ever released. As long as these platforms have access to all songs, I think they will do just fine. However, I think eventually it is going to become difficult for other streaming platforms to catch up to the bigger ones. They have so much market share that they would have to really do something to make people unhappy or raise prices significantly. There really isn’t much room for new players in the industry. The only way this could change is if artists become exclusive with specific streaming companies. We saw this happen recently when Kanye released his new album “Donda 2”. He released the album on his own streaming platform, but ironically still was the number one streamed artist on Spotify that week, (Callas). If artists start to do this more then we will see a huge shift in the industry where smaller companies can make a name for themselves. Until that happens, the big players will only continue to grow. In short, will smaller streamers ever catch up to Spotify and others? No probably not, but they don’t need to in order to be successful as they operate on far smaller margins. People will pay to hear their favorite artists, that much won’t change.
References
Callas, Brad. “Kanye West Is the Most Streamed Artist on Spotify despite Not Releasing 'Donda 2' on Their Platform.” Complex, Complex, 27 Feb. 2022, https://www.complex.com/music/kanye-west-most-streamed-artist-spotify.
Staff, Billboard. “MRC Year End Report.”
Stuart , Stuart. “How Many Users Do Spotify, Apple Music and Other Streaming Services Have?” Musically, 3 Feb. 2022.
Wang, Matilda. “[$Spot] Exceptional Purchase Retention of Spotify and Its New Podcast Strategy.” Data Insights – Measurable AI, 19 Dec. 2019, https://blog.measurable.ai/2019/11/04/exceptional-purchase-retention-of-spotify-and-its-new-podcast-strategy/.
Jennifer Greene
ReplyDeleteThe music industry has had a tough few years, but thanks to streaming and internal innovation, I believe that the industry can continue to prosper. According to MRC Data’s Year-End Report of 2021, the music industry has seen improvement in many categories, but is still falling behind in U.S. digital album sales, global digital song sales, U.S. digital track sales, current share, and current total album consumption. These declining categories make sense since we know the majority of music listeners utilize streaming platforms, so the need for digital purchase is becoming obsolete. However, I believe the industry has been adaptable to combat these “negative” areas.
I previously mentioned internal innovation, and by that I mean the industry and the people within it have created some genius ideas to connect the audience with either the artist or the album. Making fans connected to the artist or their music will result in more streaming listeners or purchases. An example of one of these ideas in action is the upcoming documentary about Olivia Rodrigo and her debut album, SOUR. The documentary, Olivia Rodgrigo: Driving Home 2 U (a SOUR film) will be exclusively available on Disney+ in March (Dailey, 2022). Within this film Rodrigo will be taking her viewers on a road trip to recount and reflect on the music she made, behind-the-scenes exclusive footage in and out of the studio, new arrangements of popular tracks, and 11 live performances with guest artists. Disney Branded Television presiden, Ayo Davis, said, “This is a unique film experience where for the first time, fans will understand how her album came to be and why it was such a personal journey for Olivia,” (Dailey, 2022). Expanding on Davis’s point, a documentary such as this allows the artist to connect with their fans, and this also prompts fans to develop a deeper relationship with the music since they are seeing the background of the music. Although this tactic will work for Rodrigo since it is so unique, but by following this blueprint artists can continue connecting fan bases to the creative process.
Another way the industry is adapting is through social media, specifically Tiktok. Business Insider writes, “TikTok is an essential promotional tool for music artists and record labels.” This platform, along with other social media platforms, allow artists to once again promote their music organically and discuss their creative processes with their fans. This is proven to work as “songs that trend on Tiktok often end up charting on the Billboard 100 or Spotify Viral 50,” (Whateley, 2022). Utilizing TikTok is something we can expect to continue seeing as Mixdown predicts another strong year for TikTok despite the number of copycat platforms popping up. Similarly to Rodrigo’s documentary tactic, social media engages listeners and allows for intimate connections to artists and their work.
With all of this said, I believe that the music industry will begin to see increases in revenue as artists continue to engage viewers through non-traditional promotional strategies. It should be noted, however, that revenue will be dependent on streaming and merchandise sales rather than album or track purchases, but I do not see this becoming an issue as the industry has been able to adapt thus far.
Dailey, H. (2022, February 17). Olivia Rodrigo Announces Documentary Detailing ‘SOUR’ Creation – Billboard. Billboard; Billboard. https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/olivia-rodrigo-sour-documentary-film-announcement-1235032929/
Duxson, E. (2022, January 12). Eight music industry trends to look out for in 2022 - Mixdown Magazine. Mixdown Magazine; Mixdown Magazine. https://mixdownmag.com.au/features/eight-music-industry-trends-to-look-out-for-in-2022/
Whateley, D. (2022, January 3). How TikTok Is Changing the Music Industry: Marketing, Discovery. Business Insider; Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/how-tiktok-is-changing-the-music-industry-marketing-discovery-2021-7#:~:text=TikTok%20is%20an%20essential%20promotional,generated%20posts%20from%20their%20fans
Annie Morrison
ReplyDeleteStreaming has been a game changer in the music industry. It has allowed listeners unlimited access to music and podcasts and allows people to listen to any music, anywhere, anytime.
This is a major change in the music industry, even from 10 years ago. Older Gen Zer’s lived in an era where music was bought on CDs in their youth and then shifted to iTunes, and eventually went over to streaming. In the past, when people wanted to listen to music, the consumer had to buy the song or album individually to listen to the music that the consumer desired. The monetary aspect that was tied to buying music took away from people embracing music culture, or even listening to new genres or taking on new interests for genres because there was a risk associated with it if they did not like it - money. People did not want to spend money on music where there was a chance of dissatisfaction, but streaming eliminates that. Now, if someone wants to listen to music, podcasts, etc., it is completely risk free because it is included in a subscription streaming service, or free streaming options that have ads instead of purchasing the subscription, such as Spotify.
Although the industry has found ways to adapt to changes in this generation of music listeners, organizations are still struggling to keep up with and understand the media habits of Generation Z. “Everyone but TikTok finds the younger demo elusive.” (Shaw, L). However, is this generation of up-and-comers much different than any younger generation we have seen in the past? Since the beginning of media existence, the media has been constantly adapting and evolving to cater to the newest generation. Although this generation may seem more elusive than ever before, it may simply be a causation of the mass number of media that they have been exposed to since birth. This is the first generation of people that are truly tech natives and have been surrounded by the ever-changing climate of tech for the entirety of their lives. When it comes to this topic, it is important to remember that tech and media such as the Gen Z favorite, TikTok can also be used as an asset by streaming services such as Spotify by partnering with micro influencers to influence trends on music. (Whatley, D.) So yes, the industry has found ways to adapt to the ever-changing industry, however they will have to continue to tweak and modify things as people change and to truly connect with an audience.
Amid the struggle of connecting with Gen Z, Spotify, the leading music streaming service with “406m users / 180m subscribers” (Dredge, S.) has found ways to connect with the demographic including its annual wrapped campaign, which has the largest engagement with Gen Z. This goes to show that Spotify is paying attention to trends and can continue to stay at the top of the streaming game. Not only do they know that Gen Zer's love Spotify Wrapped, but Spotify is taking advantage of utilizing influencers to pull weight in the podcast department. They have even partnered with influencers such as Alex Cooper of Call Her Daddy which has had great engagement with the older demographic of Gen Z women aged 20-24. Influencers and partnerships are the future of the music and podcast industry. (Shaw, L.) Finally, “Concerns about Gen Z could also present an opportunity.” The future is in Gen Zs hands, will the media follow?
ReplyDeleteDredge, S. (2022, February 3). How many users do Spotify, Apple Music and streaming services have? Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://musically.com/2022/02/03/spotify-apple-how-many-users-big-music-streaming-services/
Shaw , L. (n.d.). Spotify Has a Gen Z Problem. Or is it an Opportunity? Bloomberg.com. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-12-19/spotify-has-a-gen-z-problem-here-s-how-it-s-learning-from-tiktok
Whateley, D. (2022, January 3). How Tiktok is changing the music industry. Business Insider. Retrieved March 8, 2022, from https://www.businessinsider.com/how-tiktok-is-changing-the-music-industry-marketing-discovery-2021-7#:~:text=TikTok%20is%20an%20essential%20promotional,generated%20posts%20from%20their%20fans
Annie Morrison part 2
DeleteNick Federico
ReplyDeleteFollowing years of declining sales, the music industry has finally begun to turn things around. Over the past few years the introduction of music streaming has revolutionized the landscape and aided the industry in regaining its stability. Major music streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud, etc. have been catalysts for this music industry resurgence. With this new era of streaming and accessibility, younger generations/demographics have been the main party that are fueling these streaming numbers. The question that looms is whether or not this increase in sales of the past several years will last, or will the music industry need another solution in the near future?
As a result of streaming being introduced into the music world, the industry has seen steady increases in certain areas. According to an article published by Billboard, MRC Data’s 2021 Year-End Report shows the music industry has grown in total album consumption and on-demand streaming. (Caulfield, 2022). The increase in both album consumption and overall streaming numbers go hand in hand. Thanks to the accessibility of streaming, it is easier than ever for audiences to become immersed in their favorite artist’s music. In years past, listeners would have to venture to a brick and mortar store to purchase a CD or full vinyl album to listen to the entirety of the album. The other alternative was paying for the whole album on a platform like iTunes. However, now users can pay a fixed monthly rate and have unlimited access to thousands of songs and full-length albums whenever they please.
Another opportunity that the music industry has going for them is the massive fan bases and connections to those followings that many hit artists in the landscape have today. Many artists pride themselves upon having strong connections with their fans, and actively look for ways to connect and give back to their supporters. According to an article published by Vogue, a handful of mainstream artists have innovative and special ways to reach their audiences on a more personal level, especially in recent times. These new mediums that have been utilized include special hashtags that are specific to an artist, challenges where fans are asked to post pictures on social media listening to an artist’s music or wearing their favorite merchandise. However, the newest and most trending is social media exclusive performances. These have skyrocketed in popularity especially during the time of the Covid pandemic. With everyone being cooped up and restricted from enjoying live concerts, artists took to social media to connect with their audiences and provide live concerts over platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. (Cragg, 2020). The list of artists that have used this as an opportunity to reach out to fans includes Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, etc. These types of connections between artists and fans not only help bolster larger fan bases, but get audiences listening and engaging with the music itself as well. Even some of the largest music streaming powerhouses like Spotify are recognizing social media platforms like TikTok, as extremely influential and efficient ways to market artists and their music. According to an article from Bloomberg, “The one app beloved by Gen Z is TikTok. Spotify has long seen TikTok as a friend and a funnel. People hear a song on TikTok and then go to Spotify to listen to the whole thing.” (Shaw,2021).
DeleteIn conclusion, I see the music industry to see continued success with the introduction of streaming to the landscape. In recent years, sales numbers have been rising and I don’t foresee this coming to a halt anytime soon. Social media platforms partnered with the accessibility of streaming service music catalogs, will continue to serve as huge beneficial factors towards the growth of the music industry and these artists’ fame/notoriety.
Works Cited:
Cragg, Michael. How Musicians Are Connecting with Their ... - Vogue Australia. https://www.vogue.com.au/culture/features/how-musicians-are-connecting-with-their-fans-during-the-global-covid19-crisis/image-gallery/377023729ff6d303fb5d2bc48e9acdaf.
Caulfield, Keith. “Dua Lipa's 'Levitating' Is Most-Streamed Song of 2021 in U.S., Morgan Wallen's 'Dangerous: The Double Album' Is MRC Data's Top Album.” Billboard, 6 Jan. 2022, https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/dua-lipa-morgan-wallen-us-2021-mrc-data-1235016079/#recipient_hashed=62dfc0b27ad1de67d64a0c44fb55f17fe8a7cd610e9d3f50edf2cced899812f7.
Shaw, Lucas. “Spotify Has a Gen Z Problem. Or Is It an Opportunity?” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2021-12-19/spotify-has-a-gen-z-problem-here-s-how-it-s-learning-from-tiktok.