Music Industry Analysis
Music Biz curates a feed of music industry news articles, business statistics and trend analysis from a variety of media outlets, filtering out the noise to deliver you the actionable insights you need to succeed. Starting in 2024, these articles will be accessible exclusively from Music Biz’s social media feeds.
March 27, 2020 – Staying Put: Consumers Forced Indoors During Crisis Spend More Time on Media
Regardless of whether you call it social distancing, quarantining or retreating to a safe place, heading home amid concerns about the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is bound to affect media consumption habits. In fact, staying put in our homes can lead to almost a 60% increase in the amount of content we watch in some cases and potentially more depending on the reasons. Considering that consumers around the globe are already leaning into the growing array of content options and channels,... Read More
March 18, 2020 – 116 Million U.S. Consumers Bought Music Last Year, Highest Number Since 2007
The rebound in music consumption continued in 2019 thanks to continued growth in the streaming market, according to MusicWatch’s 2019 Annual Music Study. According to the findings — based on a survey of 5,000 respondents nationwide aged 13 and older and complemented by MusicWatch’s audiocensus study of 3,000 people who provided detailed music listening behaviors — the number of music buyers in the U.S. hit 116 million in 2019 across paid subscriptions, CDs, paid downloads and new vinyl,... Read More
March 13, 2020 – 5G Smartphone Sales Are on the Rise in the U.S., But Accounted For Less Than 1% of Devices in 2019
According to The NPD Group’s Mobile Phone Tracking service, 5G smartphone sales in the U.S. accounted for less than 1% of devices in 2019, but saw strong growth from the first half of the year to the second driven by the introduction of new products from Samsung, LG, and OnePlus, as well as an increasing number of markets with 5G coverage. In fact, from 1H 2019 to 2H 2019 the number of 5G devices was up by nearly nine times.... Read More
March 9, 2020 – Recorded Music Revenues Hit $21.5 Billion in 2019
With IPOs from Warner Music and Universal Music pending and continued institutional investment into music catalogues, the music business is firmly in the sights of big money. The performance of the recorded music business in 2019 is going to heat up interest even further. The global recorded music industry continued its resurgence in 2019 with a fifth successive year of growth. Global revenues grew by 11.4% in 2019 to reach $21.5 billion, an increase of $2.2 billion on 2018.... Read More
March 6, 2020 – Over and Over: How the Digital Song Economy is Generating Hit After Hit
There are few tracks in pop music that carry as much mythic weight as New Order’s “Blue Monday.” Originally recorded at a Cheetham Hill studio in 1983, multiple apocryphal stories about the song endure. Bernard Sumner claims his painstaking initial attempts at programming the backing track on primitive electronic equipment were ruined when Stephen Morris caught the plug with his foot, wiping the memory. Despite this, almost 40 years later, it’s clear that the song’s success is as distinct and lucrative as any example you can select from The Song Economy.... Read More
February 28, 2020 – Podcast Content is Growing Audio Engagement
Unlike the fixed amount of time in a given day, our media diets still have room to grow. In fact, as new media options like streaming and podcasts mature, U.S. consumers are opting to add them to their daily routines instead of simply replacing the traditional fare. And when it comes to audio, podcast listeners actually listen to more broadcast radio than people who don’t listen to podcasts at all. The media industry has more than a significant opportunity here.... Read More
February 26, 2020 – RIAA Issues 2019 Year End Music Industry Revenue Report
This week, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) released its 2019 Year End Music Revenues Report showcasing a fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth, as overall revenues increased 13% to $11.1 billion. Total revenues from music streaming grew 19.9% to $8.8 billion last year, accounting for 79.5% of all recorded music revenues. On the physical side of the business, revenue from vinyl records saw a 19% increase to $504 million — the largest revenue number the format has yielded since 1988.... Read More
February 26, 2020 – The Minority-Majority Shift: Two Decades That Will Change America—Multicultural Segments Top The Music Charts
2020 is the year when the majority of all Americans under seventeen years old will be from a minority background, a process that will culminate with a so-called “minority-majority” population by the mid-2040s. These demographic changes will bring about a significant transformation to Corporate America, and during the next few months I will discuss some of these consequences in each article targeting one specific area of our business environment. This month’s article is about the impact the shift towards minority-majority will have on music and,... Read More
February 21, 2020 – Why Distinctive Brand Assets are a Driving Force
The media landscape is rapidly changing, offering the consumer more content as well as the choice to skip or scroll away from what doesn’t interest them. While creative may need to work harder to grab and keep attention, its main role has largely remained the same: to capture attention and encode memories that can later influence brand choice. So the question all marketers need to ask themselves is: Am I maximizing the power of my brand’s assets?... Read More
February 20, 2020 – Five Charts: Understanding Gen Z’s Devices and Digital Usage
Relating to and connecting with teens — the core of Gen Z — can be confusing. For marketers, reaching this cohort starts with understanding how and where teens spend their time. Teens are all about staying connected, and smartphones make it easy—especially as the age at which children and teens get these devices continues to trend downward. We previously estimated that in 2013, just 49.6% of all 12- to 17-year-olds had a smartphone. In 2020, that figure will jump to 83.2%.... Read More
