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.
October 29, 2019 – The 2020 Vision for U.S. Retail and Beyond
In the future, will your wearable device recommend what to add to your grocery list? Will you be able to order a new chair from a mobile 3D printer that can deliver it to you in the next hour? When you reach for your favorite brand on the shelf, will it automatically communicate to the manufacturer to re-stock the shelf faster? When you think about everything that consumers are asking for and combine it with advances in technology,... Read More
October 25, 2019 – What Should Label Playlist Strategies Be in 2020?
MIDiA’s ‘Playlist Revolution’ report recently highlighted that, although playlists have become valuable commercial music real estate in their current form, there is plenty of scope for further development of the format. A prominent playlist placement remains a key objective of most new release strategies and is a higher priority than radio play for many artists. However, the supply of new songs continues to outstrip the number of premium slots, and most artists still struggle to get onto playlists.... Read More
October 24, 2019 – Super Listeners 2019 Report from PodcastOne and Edison Research
Weekly podcast listeners who consume more than five hours of podcasts per week are the subject of the first-ever Super Listeners study from PodcastOne and Edison Research. These podcasting “Super Listeners,” podcasting’s heaviest listeners, have emerged as valuable targets for advertisers and trusted allies for podcast sponsors according to this groundbreaking study. Key takeaways from the report include: • 70% of Super Listeners say they have considered a new product or service as a result of hearing an ad on a podcast.... Read More
October 21, 2019 – “Golden Age of TV” Gives Boost to Music Industry
At a time when many critics believe we are living through a golden age of TV, it seems no new drama with aspirations to credibility is complete without a soundtrack to match. As content on on-demand platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video has proliferated, and shows such as Stranger Things, Breaking Bad and Transparent have won acclaim, so fans have rushed to track down the music in their favorite shows. Figures provided exclusively to the Guardian show that the use of music across major on-demand platforms has more than tripled (up 238%) in the past five years – from 145 billion minutes in 2014 to 490 billion minutes in 2018.... Read More
October 18, 2019 – Ready or Not, Here Comes the 2019 Holiday Shopping Season
Consumers are split in their attitudes about holiday shopping. According to the 2019 Holiday Purchase Intentions Survey from The NPD Group, most consumers in the U.S. are looking forward to this holiday season, and see the holidays as a break from everything happening in the world – half even say going out shopping puts them in the holiday spirit. But almost half of consumers that said they would rather plan an outing with family or friends than exchange gifts – more than last year.... Read More
October 15, 2019 – Sustainability Is Factoring into 2019 Holiday Purchases
Discounts and low prices are historic holiday asks. But this year, sustainability is also top of mind. According to a recent survey, shoppers are more mindful of who they do business with, especially as it pertains to the environment. Coleman Parkes Research, on behalf of Accenture, conducted an online survey of 1,500 consumers in 17 cities, including New York, Seattle and Detroit. On average, 34 percent of respondents said they were unaware of the negative environmental impact faster shipping causes.... Read More
October 8, 2019 – NRF Forecasts Holiday Sales Will Grow Between 3.8 and 4.2 Percent
The National Retail Federation (NRF) said in a press release that it expects holiday retail sales during November and December to increase between 3.8 percent and 4.2 percent over 2018, to a total of between $727.9 billion and $730.7 billion. The numbers compare with an average holiday sales increase of 3.7 percent over the previous five years. “The U.S. economy is continuing to grow and consumer spending is still the primary engine behind that growth,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said.... Read More
October 4, 2019 – MIDiA Report: Leaving Legacy Behind — Music Marketing Responds to Streaming
The problems for music marketers are manifold. Given that global marketing is one of the core competencies of a modern record label (and perhaps a modern artist manager), the broader solution to these issues is for marketers to push their agenda higher up the chain, and for more corporate-level innovation and investment to take place to get the marketing engines changed up and fit for purpose. In their latest report, MIDiA argues that to succeed in doing this,... Read More
September 30, 2019 – Why the Surprise Album Drop is Falling in Popularity
It’s been close to six years since Beyoncé changed the world with that digital drop by releasing her fifth album Beyoncé out of nowhere. For the next few years, you’d enter every week with the possibility that your favorite could drop an album at any time. Bey’s husband JAY-Z followed suit with his 2013 record Holy Grail Magna Carta, dropping it for free for Samsung users. Artists were traversing a world whereby the notion of access to music had been thrown open by streaming.... Read More
September 27, 2019 – Ken Burns’ “Country Music” — Vince Gill, Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard, Patsy Cline Sales Soar After PBS Doc Airs
Ken Burns’ latest documentary, this time covering country music, looks to be a hit for music sales, with various songs from the eight-part series’ 100-plus-song soundtrack seeing notable gains in digital downloads. Since Country Music’s September 15 premiere, songs from Johnny Cash, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Patsy Cline, Vince Gill and more have jumped in sales both in the week the series premiered and the current week, during which the show’s final four episodes aired. They’re paced in overall volume by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard’s iconic team-up “Pancho and Lefty.” Coming via the series’ seventh episode,... Read More
