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.
January 23, 2020 – How Music Collaborations Evolved in the Digital Era: A Decade in Review
Through music collaborations, or having featured artists on their tracks, artists are able to mix their audiences. Working with other artists also conveys activity and engagement. Audiences get to see that their artist isn’t just hidden away inside some tower, creating music alone in a studio. One need not look further than Lil Nas X’s introduction of Billy Ray Cyrus to “Old Town Road” to see the potential power a collaboration can unleash. If it seems like your favorite songs of the past few years have had an increasing amount of featured artists,... Read More
January 15, 2020 – Why Music Podcasts Are a ‘Gold Mine of Good Ideas’ For Artists and Labels Alike
As Spotify invested heavily in podcasting in 2019 — including a deal with Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground production company reportedly worth over $10 million — labels were also getting in on the action. In April, Universal Music Group announced a partnership with Wondery to produce original audio content based on its catalog; the following month, Sony Music Entertainment unveiled a partnership with renowned podcast producers Laura Mayer and Adam Davidson to create shows across a variety of formats and genres.... Read More
January 13, 2020 – A Majority of US Podcast Listeners Tune In Regularly
Many US podcast listeners tune in frequently, and three in 10 daily listeners have bought products based on podcast ads, according to research from CivicScience. The September 2019 survey found that nearly one-third of US podcast listeners tune in daily, and a similar figure listens weekly. But the study also found a difference in purchasing patterns between the two groups. Thirty percent of daily listeners ages 13 and older said they had purchased an item after hearing a sponsored ad for it.... Read More
January 10, 2020 – Nielsen Music/MRC Data Releases 2019 Year-End U.S. Music Report; Showcases Double-Digit Growth in Album Equivalent Audio Consumption and Vinyl Sales
Nielsen Music/MRC Data has released its 2019 year-end U.S. Music report, which shows that album-equivalent consumption — comprised of full album sales, track-equivalent album (TEA) units and streaming-equivalent album (SEA) units from on-demand audio streams — rose 11.4% in 2019. In the physical space, vinyl album sales grew to a new yearly high for the 14th consecutive year. Vinyl albums increased by 14.5% (18.84 million units) in 2019, representing 16.7% of all album sales for the year.... Read More
January 9, 2020 – BuzzAngle Music Releases 2019 Year-End U.S. Music Consumption Report
BuzzAngle Music has released its 2019 year-end report monitoring music consumption in the U.S. Below are some of the key points featured the report: For the third year in a row, total consumption growth was up double-digits (13.5%). Overall consumption growth in 2019 in total consumption was fueled by the continued growth of on-demand streams. For the first time, on-demand streams broke the 1 trillion mark in 2019 with 1,010,000,000 on-demand streams in 2019. On-demand stream consumption now represents 85% of all music consumption in the United States;... Read More
January 9, 2020 – The Smart Audio Report Winter 2019 from NPR and Edison Research
The latest survey from The Smart Audio Report, conducted after the December 2019 holidays, confirms continued growth in the smart speaker market with 60M people in the U.S., aged 18+ (24% of the population) owning at least one smart speaker device. The average smart speaker household now features 2.6 devices, up from 2.3 devices per household at the same time last year. The nationally-conducted telephone survey of 1,000+ persons 18+ also shows 54% of the U.S.... Read More
January 7, 2020 – Consumer Tech U.S. Sales to Reach Record $422 Billion in 2020; Streaming Services Spending Soars, Says CTA
Skyrocketing popularity of streaming services and wireless earbuds along with 5G connectivity and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled devices will drive revenue growth for the U.S. consumer tech industry to a record $422 billion in retail revenues in 2020 – nearly 4% growth over last year, according to a new Consumer Technology Association (CTA)® report. “More and more consumers are embracing the faster connectivity, advanced intelligence and seemingly infinite content that technology offers today – pushing consumer technology industry revenues toward another record-setting year in 2020,” said Gary Shapiro,... Read More
January 3, 2020 – Wireless Headphone Market Surges 53% Year-Over-Year With Sales of 96.7 Million Units in Q3
The global wireless earbud, earphone and headphone market enjoyed brisk growth in Q3 2019 with a 53% uptick in sales year-over-year, according to new data from research firm Canalys. That represents sales of 96.7 million units worldwide for all wireless headphones, earphones (a.k.a. tethered wireless earbuds) and “true wireless stereo” units (a.k.a. fully wireless earbuds, a designation that includes Airpods) during the quarter. Not surprisingly, Canalys predicts 2019 will be the biggest year ever for the smart personal audio device market (a category that includes all three above-mentioned segments),... Read More
January 3, 2020 – Harry Styles, Billie Eilish & The Beatles Help Vinyl Album Sales Hit Record Week in U.S.
In the week ending Dec. 19, Nielsen Music reports 973,000 vinyl albums were sold in the U.S. — marking the single biggest week for vinyl album sales since the company began electronically tracking music sales in 1991. The previous single-week high was registered a year ago, when 905,000 vinyl albums were sold in the week ending Dec. 27, 2018. Vinyl album sales were so hot in the week ending Dec. 19, they comprised 25% of all albums sold that week (3.92 million across all formats: CD,... Read More
January 3, 2020 – Why Big Data Has Been (Mostly) Good for Music
Analysts claim it’s not only possible to see who’s blowing up now, but more importantly, who’s going to be blowing up next. Chartmetric says it can shortlist which of the 1.7 million artists it tracks will have a big career break within the next week. Pandora-owned Next Big Sound reports its patented algorithm can predict which of the nearly 1 million artists it tracks are most likely to hit the Billboard 200 chart for the first time within the next year.... Read More
