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
Ben Labadia - Part 1
ReplyDeleteDua Lipa’s song, “Levitating,” was most streamed in 2021 with over 800 million listens, while Morgan Wallan’s album, Dangerous: The Double Album, was streamed over 3 billion times. Wallan’s album was sold over 3 million times, but the number of physical sales was only 288,000, leaving the rest to be attributed to streaming services, such as Spotify and Apple Music (Caulfield). Music streaming services, much like television streaming services, are growing and becoming the basis of music listening. Traditional sales and radio listening is winding down and streaming is now the most used method of listening to music.
Spotify has over 400 million users, with 180 million paying subscribers. YouTube music has 2 billion users (Dredge). People are using streamers because the music is at their fingertips and there is an endless library to choose from. It is easy and convenient. These services have found their strategy.
The largest streamer (by subscribers), Spotify, has some incredible strategies to keep up with changing consumer needs. To begin, when Spotify was first released, it became an alternative route to music piracy because of its ease of use and perfect customer experience. It also allowed consumers to have an “all-you-can-eat utility service for a fixed monthly subscription” (Chien). This wide range of music allows for niche artists and audiences to connect and for customers with specific tastes to never be left out of the equation. Currently, Spotify is capitalizing off their large Gen Z following, by catering more to the younger audience. As companies grow older, Spotify being almost 16 years old, it is needing to adapt to the changing times. Due to Gen Z’s obsession with Tik Tok, Spotify has begun to utilize this to fix their own app. Spotify has begun reaching out to social media influencers to get their content onto Spotify’s platform to draw Gen Z’s attention. Alex Cooper’s “Call Her Daddy” podcast was one that drew a lot of young female listeners to Spotify when her show was acquired. Another change to Spotify is the music sharing abilities. Many younger people enjoy creating and sharing playlists with friends and family to attract others to their music tastes (Shaw). This option is one not many other apps have, but that Gen Z is very interested in. The same goes for their end-of-year Spotify Wrapped which shows all the songs and artists one listened to the most throughout the year. Similarly, another app, Receiptify, tracks your music listening to give you a “shopping list” receipt to showcase your most listened to monthly listening. Further, Spotify is leaning in to Tik Tok by adding 15 second reels to the platform with vertical video to preview songs and podcasts for potential listeners (Shaw).
Ben Labadia - Part 2
DeleteTherefore, all of the creative strategies by these companies help make Spotify and others powerful companies that can, and will, continue to grow. The revenues brought in by paying subscribers will increase as more and more features become available and subscriptions become the more popular option. Spotify is here to stay, and artists and music will only continue to benefit from it.
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.
Chien, Chi-Hua. “Spotify's Winning Strategies: Making Music through Innovation.” LinkedIn, LinkedIn, 6 Feb. 2021, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/spotifys-winning-strategies-making-music-through-innovation-chien/.
Dredge, Stuart. How Many Users Do Spotify, Apple Music and Streaming Services Have?, 3 Feb. 2022, https://musically.com/2022/02/03/spotify-apple-how-many-users-big-music-streaming-services/.
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.
Lilly Davidson
ReplyDeleteStreaming is finding its place in all corners of the entertainment industry, music included. Just like TV/film streaming services, music streaming services are becoming the base line for listening to music. Yes, people still listen to music on record players, radios, or using CDs, but streaming has taken over. With a simple tap on your phone, music is accessible right at your fingertips.
Right now, Spotify is the biggest music streaming service, reaching a total of more than 400 million users, with 180 million being premium subscribers and 226 million being ad-supported listeners (Dredge). Apple has more than 60 million subscribers and over 2 billion people listen to music on YouTube (Dredge). Clearly, streaming music is what people are gravitating towards, and services are adapting to that.
Spotify, being the leader of music streaming, is the best example as to how the music industry has adapted to the changes in ways people consume music. As a solution to the industry’s piracy problem, “the on-demand audio-streaming service was built on the understanding that consumers who aren’t inclined to buy a specific album or song might be willing to pay for ease of access to a large library of music” (Robinson). Even from the beginning, Spotify was anticipating the needs of consumers.
Spotify also offers other listening experiences such as podcasts. 33% of US consumers this year have been listening to podcasts, growing at a rate “on par with both music listenership and engagement with sports” (Jonas). Spotify is keeping up with this trend, expanding its library to both popular and niche podcasts for subscribers to listen to. Spotify has even sought to increase appeal to younger subscribers such as Gen Z by “doing deals with social media influencers like Alex Cooper and Addison Rae” (Shaw), increasing podcast demographics to younger listeners. Spotify is also catering to Gen Z’s obsession with TikTok, testing a new feature on the app that will offer snippets of songs and podcasts set against a vertical video (Shaw). Spotify is clearly listening to the changes in music/streaming habits.
Based on Spotify’s progress alone, I think there is a good chance for revenue to continue to increase in the coming years. Subscriptions will continue to increase, especially since Spotify offers an ad-supported tier. Consumers have the option to listen how they choose. Premium, whether Spotify or another service, attracts certain people while ad-based services allow more people to tune in. And if the music industry continues to create new features to their streaming platforms, more people will want to subscribe. I think if streamers continue to follow the trends of certain demographics, especially the younger ones, there is a very good chance revenue will follow a path upwards.
Works Cited
Dredge, Stuart. How Many Users Do Spotify, Apple Music and Streaming Services Have?, 3 Feb. 2022, https://musically.com/2022/02/03/spotify-apple-how-many-users-big-music-streaming-services/.
Jonas, Rob. “Year-End Report U.S. 2021.” MRC Data, https://mrcdatareports.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/MRC_YEAREND_2021_US_FNL.pdf.
Robinson, Kristin. “15 Years of Spotify: How the Streaming Giant Has Changed and Reinvented the Music Industry.” Variety, Variety, 13 Apr. 2021, https://variety.com/2021/music/news/spotify-turns-15-how-the-streaming-giant-has-changed-and-reinvented-the-music-industry-1234948299/.
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.
Michael McGurrin
ReplyDeleteThe music industry has made a massive comeback after so many years. For years the sales kept continuing to drop. However, with the rise of streaming, the music industry is starting to get back into the positive. People still listen to music on the radio or even by CD. However, even those companies have been transitioning to a streaming platform. All the streaming industries got a big boost from the pandemic since everyone was locked in their houses for months. Just like with movies and T.V. shows, the music industry is adapting to the new technology world. According to the Washington Post, “The industry turned to stream. Because consumers don’t own the songs, money is made each time a tune is played” (Andrews). According to the IFPI, “at the end of 2020 there were 443 million users of paid streaming subscriptions worldwide, up from 341 million at the end of 2019” (Dredge). The industry jumped 100 million subscribers in just a year. Also, according to Midia Research, for the first quarter of 2021, “there were 487 million subscribers globally” (Dredge). The big music streamers in 2021 are Apple, Spotify, Tencent, and Amazon. They each have over 10% of the subscribers across the globe, with Spotify in the lead with 32%. Having all sorts of music in one spot entices people to pay for the service. Not to mention, these companies have made the price of subscriptions cheaper than other services.
The music industry has been thriving through difficult times for the past few years. However, I believe the success will begin to flatten out. The pandemic is coming to an end, and lives are returning to normal again. This means people won’t have as much free time to listen to music whenever they want to. You also have the return of concerts and tours across the world. Most of the shows were canceled in 2020 and 2021. However, they are starting to come back this year, and many fans will be going back to stadiums and arenas. One huge reason is that you will begin to see fewer artists put their music on streaming platforms. Artists don’t get paid a lot for allowing their music to be on a streaming platform. British singer-songwriter Nadine Shah said, “I was financially crippled” (Sisario). She tried pointing out that this is happening everywhere in the world. The significant young artists don’t talk about it because it might hurt their reputation. Shah also said, “If we got paid a meaningful income from streaming, that could be a weekly grocery shop; it could contribute to your rent or your mortgage when you need it the most (Sisario). I believe the music industry has done a fantastic job adapting to the new world. However, I don’t see much increase in the industry in the near future.
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. Web. 7 Mar. 2022.
"How Many Users Do Spotify, Apple Music and Streaming Services Have?" How Many Users Do Spotify, Apple Music and Streaming Services Have? Web. 7 Mar. 2022.
Sisario, Ben. "Musicians Say Streaming Doesn't Pay. Can the Industry Change?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 May 2021. Web. 7 Mar. 2022.
"Year-End Report." Billboard. Web. 7 Mar. 2022.
Rita Sherban
ReplyDeleteCOVID-19 had proved detrimental to performing artists, but there has been a silver lining. For the social media app, TikTok, COVID-19 was a blessing in disguise as many people stuck inside, with lots of time, gravitated to the quick video medium. It’s not only common people that saw the potential in TikTok, so did music industry insiders. Companies like Sony Music and Universal Music Group have utilized the app to their advantage. In fact, artists should strive to have their song go viral on the app because, “Songs that trend on TikTok often end up charting on the Billboard 100 or Spotify Viral 50” (Whateley 2022). For instances, the music group Surfaces found success with their song “Sunday Best” which sky-rocketed a year after its initial release, all in thanks to TikTok (Whateley 2022). The trend is that consumers will hear a song on TikTok and navigate to Spotify or Apple Music to listen in full. Even songs that are past their prime can find a resurgence in the streaming era. Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” took off when a TikToker used the song to a video of him skateboarding (Whateley 2022). With music streaming becoming the new way to listen to music, music catalogs will prove their worth in the coming years. Having the catalog of artists like David Bowie and Bob Dylan allow companies to continuously make money off it. Music catalogs aren’t just limited to the songs, “copywrite owners can boost the value of music assets by creating derivative works, such as Broadway musicals, coffee-table books, biopics and documentaries” (Faughnder 2022). The success of TikTok advertisement and music catalog ownership will only increase revenue for streaming, it’s the live performances that may suffer.
Sherban (cont.)
ReplyDeleteThe success with streaming and TikTok is likely here to stay, but the decline in concerts is looming. Big names like the Eagles and Dead and Company saw, “…as many as 20% of ticket-buyers were no shows…” (Shah 2021). It should be noted that these bands typically have an older demographic, the same demographic that’s susceptible to COVID-19. The hesitation to gather in crowds is becoming more apparent. Even if venues did put COVID guidelines in place, some people may oppose, while others may not find their prevention methods strong enough (Shah 2021). Even without COVID-19, people do not find the concert-going experience enjoyable. In an interview with Esquire magazine, artist Jack White laments, “People don’t clap anymore because they’ve got a…texting thing in their…hand, and probably a drink too” (Bort 2020). While the interview is almost eight years old, there is plenty that still rings true. There are the expensive ticket prices, The Rolling Stones had an average ticket price of $226.75 for their ‘No Filter Tour’, coupled with security protocols that will only be heightened due to COVID-19. The other contributing factor is how monotonous concerts can be now. White told Esquire, “There’s no set list. I’m not saying the same things I said in Cleveland last night…” (Bort 2020). Concerts were once a personal experience between the crowd and artists, but now it seems like a routine. From personal experience, last year I saw Jack Harlow at the Oakdale Theatre. There was no COVID-19 protocol and the performance itself was lackluster. What was more intriguing is the fact that fans would post videos of the show in their city and everything Harlow did at the Connecticut show was carbon copy of every other one. There was nothing special or memorable about it. This lack of performance for the price point was not worth it for me.
Bort, R. (2020, August 22). How to fix the biggest problem with live music. Esquire. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a29329/live-music-problem/
Faughnder, R. (2022, January 15). Music catalogs are fetching huge deals. are they overvalued? Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-01-15/music-catalogs-deals-bruce-springsteen-john-legend-bob-dylan-songwriters-streaming?utm_id=46872&sfmc_id=4782528
Shah, N. (2021, December 16). Major music acts are seeing 20% no-show rates at concerts. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/major-music-acts-are-seeing-20-no-show-rates-at-concerts-11639663201
Whateley, D. (2022, January 3). How Tiktok is changing the music industry. Business Insider. Retrieved March 7, 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
ReplyDeleteThe music industry has been an interesting thing to watch over the past few decades with the immergence of streaming taking over the older ways people consume music. Older ways of consuming music such as listening to the radio or CDs still exist and it is probable that quite a few people are using these methods. It's “not surprising that there are significant differences by age in how Americans listen to music” (Fred) but that can be seen in any form of entertainment. The adoption must change with the newer generations because they are the long-term audience. Methods of listening like on the radio or CDs are not comparable to all access music library that these streaming services are offering. Services such as Spotify, Apple Music or Pandora are giving listeners options to the content they want at a monthly price or with advertisements playing between songs. This is the way of consumption for music and because “Spotify is the most popular paid audio service in the world and continues to add tens of millions of customers a year” (Shaw), there is no reason to assume that the industry is not doing well. Spotify is expressing concerns about the newer generations not engaging in music like they used to because of applications like TikTok. The music industry has changed with the times when purchasing the download of a song off Apple with a purchase to a monthly subscription-based ad free version or even a version accessing music with advertisements. This has changed along with the emergence of streaming in general including the platforms like Netflix, HBOMax and others. The music industry has changed as the way of consumption changes, and it can even be seen in future for platforms like Spotify. Spotify has plans to create video forms of content to compete with TikTok because “since every app that is threatened by TikTok must copy it” (Shaw), Spotify is doing the same which proves the attempt in changing as the times change.
I think that the music industry will continue to evolve with the generation's consumption habits which will continue to increase their revenue in the next coming years. “Because consumers don’t own the songs, money is made each time a tune is played” (Andrews) which means that whatever platform is streaming the music retains the most revenue. Who is making the money is much deeper than just the artist and the streaming service, but the streaming services of music are going to continue to make revenue if they adapt to the consumption habits? It is possible that at times it will flatten or decline as the industry works out the kinks in their new plans but there is no indication that full length music is going to be consumed on other platforms.
Part 2
DeleteAndrews, 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/.
Fred, Fred. “Streaming Surpasses Radio as the Top Way to Listen to Music.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 16 Apr. 2021, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/streaming-tops-radio-as-the-top-way-to-listen-to-music/.
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.
Kallie Purdue
ReplyDeleteThe music industry has navigated through some incredible changes over the years. The adaptation of modern technologies has changed the way we perceive music and the genre itself has gone through perceptional changes as well. Before streaming, the music industry sales were falling exponentially and there was limited growth surrounding the industry. However, streaming has changed the way society interacts and listens to music. For some artists, streaming was not extremely beneficial early on. And when Spotify first came out many platinum music artists were weary of what streaming would do to their individual sales and growth. In October of 2014, before Taylor Swift’s album “1989” was released, she made it truly clear it would not be released on Spotify. Swift did not feel that her music should be streamed through a free platform, and later discussed that the “landscape of the music industry itself is changing so quickly that everything new, like Spotify, all feels to me a bit like a grand experiment. And I’m not willing to contribute my life’s work to an experiment that I don’t feel fairly compensates the writers, producers, artists, and creators of this music. [I] just don’t agree with perpetuating the perception that music has no value and should be free” (Ingham). Now eight years later, all of her records are streamed on the platform (and other platforms too) and the thought of music streaming services is completely normal. Spotify is one of the most listened to music streaming platforms, at the “end of 2021, Spotify had 406 million monthly active users, including 180 million premium subscribers and 226 million ad-supported (i.e. free) listeners” (Dredge).
Clearly Spotify is serving their consumers successfully by acquiring the mass number of customers they do. Streaming is becoming so successful because it serves the consumer better than any other channel of music consumption. Streaming is so easy to use, the app is located right on your digital device, and practically every artist is featured on it. I think their way of adapting to the changing needs of their consumers has been incredibly smart. Downloading an app and making an account to stream music is way cheaper than buying individual songs through iTunes or going to the store and buying the hard cover album to play through another device. Consumers nowadays want convenience and streaming definitely fits this need.
I think the revenue will increase in the future years because of how well streaming fits the needs of the consumer within the Pandemic and post-pandemic world. Streaming is convenient for customers and helps them obtain a large variety of music quickly. They pay a monthly fee to receive all diverse types of music. Also, within the pandemic people were staying home and not attending live music events. So, this really helped streaming’s growth. The Wall Street Journal has provided that major music acts are seeing a 20% no-show rates at live music concerts. This is a result of the Pandemic’s impact of live events and customers feeling uncomfortable attending large gatherings, further providing the “phenomenon is the latest sign of Covid-19’s lasting imprint on entertainment” (Shah). Two years later from when the Pandemic first started, live music venues are still seeing negative impacts and this in turn could help music streaming’s success.
Dredge, Stuart. “How Many Users Do Spotify, Apple Music and Streaming Services Have?S.” How Many Users Do Spotify, Apple Music and Streaming Services Have?, https://musically.com/2022/02/03/spotify-apple-how-many-users-big-music-streaming-services/.
ReplyDeleteIngham, Tim. “Taylor Swift Is Getting Friendly with Spotify Ahead of Her New Album, Lover. Times Have Changed.” Music Business Worldwide, 9 Jan. 2021, https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/taylor-swift-is-getting-friendly-with-spotify-ahead-of-her-new-album-lover-times-have-changed/.
Shah, Neil. “Major Music Acts Are Seeing 20% No-Show Rates at Concerts.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 16 Dec. 2021, https://www.wsj.com/articles/major-music-acts-are-seeing-20-no-show-rates-at-concerts-11639663201.
Robert Fritz
ReplyDeleteThe music industry after years of declining sales has more or less fallen into a lot of success recently. In an article on business insider written by Dan Whateley apps like TikTok have a huge influence on music “Songs that trend on TikTok often end up charting on the Billboard 100 or Spotify Viral 50. And 67% of the app's users are more likely to seek out songs on music-streaming services after hearing them on TikTok, according to a November study conducted for TikTok by the music-analytics company MRC Data”. The success of the music industry in recent years is partially do to apps like TikTok and others where people do share videos with music and that leads to people finding and listening to that music. The industry has adapted to the way people consume music by being one of the first industries to stream but the continued growth seems to becoming from social media. The streaming services in the music industry are doing really well in an article on musically written by Stuart Dredge places like Spotify have over 400 million users and 180 million subscribers. The industry was one of the first to make its content streamlined and easier to access. Gone are the days of waiting to go to the store to buy a CD or album because now we live in a world where with the press of a button you have your music. In 2011 80% of music sales were physical and by 2017 we saw a dramatic shift to 85% were digital those numbers are from a medium.com article written by Peter Moore. The trend to digital happened fast and they showed the ability to adapt to that fairly quickly. Now what that means for the future only time will tell as this space has taken a dramatic shift in recent years. The revenue in this industry is going to be hard to gauge especially living in a pandemic. If I were to make a guess, I would say the revenue in the industry will flatten rather than see an increase or a decrease. That is for a multitude of reasons one of which like I recently stated was the pandemic and who knows how live concerts will be viewed going forward. Another reason I think it will flatten is because we already saw the dramatic shift happen in this industry while other industries like TV hasn’t made that cross over yet so to expect any major changes doesn’t seem likely. Music is more accessible now than it has ever been and that could only mean good things for the industry. Overall, the industry has adapted well and with the influence of social media on music being where it is at the revenue should be steady
Dredge, Stuart. How Many Users Do Spotify, Apple Music and Streaming Services Have?, https://musically.com/2022/02/03/spotify-apple-how-many-users-big-music-streaming-services/.
Moore, Peter. “Streaming Is This the Future of the Music Industry?” Medium, The Entertainment Engine, 28 Jan. 2021, https://medium.com/the-entertainment-engine/streaming-is-this-the-future-of-the-music-industry-c77681ce32c8.
Whateley, Dan. “How Tiktok Is Changing the Music Industry.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 3 Jan. 2022, 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.
Johnny Marquardt part 1
ReplyDeleteThe music industry is always fluctuating with new opportunities in revenue. Streaming services have completely taken over, it’s no longer common to buy music from platforms like iTunes anymore. Majority of the population just stream their music on platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify, and even Amazon Music. Covid put a major damper on revenue for the Music Industry, due to the cancelation of live events. Now that everything is opening back up, the money’s flowing right back into the industry. One good thing came out of covid though. That would be the mass use of Tik Tok. When everyone was sitting at home in Quarantine, what else was there to do but aimlessly watch videos on Tik Tok. This actually helped the music industry. According to Insider, “Songs that trend on TikTok often end up charting on the Billboard 100 or Spotify Viral 50. And 67% of the app's users are more likely to seek out songs on music streaming services after hearing them on TikTok, according to a November study conducted for TikTok by the music-analytics company MRC Data” (Whateley). TikTok has become a great way for up-and-coming artists to be discovered by the industry. If that song is catchy enough, best believe hundreds of thousands of users will use that audio to make their own video or stitch/duet someone else’s. That’s all just publicity recognition for your music and gives you a bump up against competition. This also helps producers find new talent and see who is trending. It seems tho Tik Tok might become a foe to streaming services like Spotify. According to Bloomberg, 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. But TikTok is now more of a foe in a lot of emerging markets, places where Spotify needs to grow to keep Wall Street happy. TikTok has introduced its own music service Resso in Brazil, Indonesia and India, and it’s starting to get a following” (Shaw). Now that TikTok has its own service that’s gaining a following, how long will it take for the service to gain popularity In America? If this happens and Gen Z starts giving Resso more attention, this could put a damper on Spotify and AppleMusic.
Johnny Marquardt Part 2
ReplyDeleteHow long will this last though? Many compare TikTok to its long lost cousin Vine, who shutdown in 2017, due to their similar platforms. According to Forbes, “That such a rapid flameout could happen to TikTok is easier to imagine having seen it happen to Vine. Vine appealed to young people, many of whom rapidly created a following on this new platform. In the same way, TikTok is dominated by young people, and so many new celebrities have been created on the platform that some of them even live together in mansions throughout Los Angeles” (Tobin). TikTok has become a huge contributor to the music industry, but it’s only a matter of time before the next generation moves onto a new app, and TikTok will be left in the dust. After that, what will be the next big contributor to the industry?
“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.
Tobin, Jim. “Council Post: What Is Tiktok's Shelf Life, Considering Vine Withered and Died?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 10 Feb. 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2020/02/10/what-is-tiktoks-shelf-life-considering-vine-withered-and-died/?sh=534723414a86.
Whateley, Dan. “How Tiktok Is Changing the Music Industry.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 3 Jan. 2022, 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.
Kimberlyn Bouley
ReplyDeleteThe music industry has found new innovative ways to increase ad revenue through streaming services. There are numerous platforms for listeners to consume their music. Each one offers free trials and lets subscribers choose between a paid ad-free tier as well a free option with ads. In 2021 all music mediums saw an increase in sales due to streaming and other social media platforms.
An article by Music Business Worldwide breaks down the retail sale stating, “On a retail basis, recorded music revenues in the US (money spent on streaming subscriptions, as well as physical and digital music), grew $1.5 billion or 27% year-on-year, to $7.1 billion in H1 2021.” (Stassen,2021) Due to streaming, listeners can purchase a service to listen to their favorite genres. The Covid-19 pandemic also added to this increase as more music exploration was being undermined during the lockdown. Another contender for the increase in revenue was being done through licensing for music in applications. Caulfield’s article revealed the top albums, songs, and increase in sales. The percentages showed as, “Total U.S. album sales increased by 6.3% in 2021,” (Caulfield, 2022) and “Total U.S. on-demand audio streams jumped 12.6%.”
The top platforms users engage for music consumption are Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music. While these services offer tiers for subscribers to choose from Dredge's article indicates, “In March 2021, global music industry body the IFPI published its latest Global Music Report, which revealed that at the end of 2020 there were 443 million users of paid streaming subscriptions worldwide, up from 341 million at the end of 2019. This includes people on family plans who aren’t actually paying themselves.” (Dredge, 2022) Whether users are purchasing a bundle option or an ad-free option, platforms are finding ways to reach their targeted demographics.
These audio platforms are finding ways to reach their audience of all ages. While Gen Z is receiving music recommendations from social media networks such as TikTok that directs them to audio streaming services, the generation is not utilizing every tool that these services offer. According to Shaw’s article, Gen Z is less likely to listen to podcasts as much as Gen X due to listening to radio less often. These platforms, particularly Spotify, are creating new ways to reach this audience. “Spotify has sought to increase appeal to Gen Z podcast listeners by doing deals with social media influencers like Alex Cooper and Addison Rae.” (Shaw, 2021) This gives opportunities for Gen Z to get into podcasts and utilize all of Spotify’s features. This also gives Spotify an opportunity for an increase in subscribers for fans that want to listen to the podcast.
While the music industry’s revenue is on the rise, it may flatten rather than grow. The pandemic is calming down meaning listeners are going back to work and spending less time streaming music. Live music and tours are opening again which means a longer time for artists to produce music and fans will be playing the artists on tour rather than finding new music. It will be interesting to see what companies will do to try to increase revenue even more. Whether that be producing videos and other content or creating more partnerships with influencers.
DeleteSources
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Dredge, Stuart. “How Many Users Do Spotify, Apple Music, and Other Streaming Services Have?” Musically.com, 3 Feb. 2022, https://musically.com/2022/02/03/spotify-apple-how-many-users-big-music-streaming-services/
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.
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