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.
August 8, 2019 – How Video Game Music Is Driving A Vinyl Record Resurgence
Cuphead. Persona 5. Undertale. Sunset Riders. The Legend of Zelda. Fans know these titles first and foremost as video games, but they all have something else in common, too: each of them has inspired a vinyl record that has charted on the Billboard 200. iam8bit, the first label dedicated predominantly to vinyl video game soundtracks, says they’ve sold 200,000 albums to date, a number that includes six Billboard chart-toppers (the titles above plus a record based on the animated show Steven Universe).... Read More
August 6, 2019 – Cassettes Are Back, and It’s Not About the Music
In the U.K., cassette sales were up 112 percent year on year in the first half of 2019, even if that means only 36,000 cassettes were sold. Sales in the U.S. are growing, too. In part, the cassette phenomenon is driven by the various mixtapes related to the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, in which a cassette tape plays an important, emotional part in the plot. In a similar way, the movie Baby Driver, in which the protagonist listens to music on iPods, ... Read More
August 5, 2019 – Back To School 2019: Mobile Shopping, Midsummer Sales and Big-Box Retailers Dominate This Year’s Trends
Amazon Prime Day serves as the unofficial kickoff to the back-to-school shopping season, and spending on back-to-school items is expected to reach $26.2 billion in 2019, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). Back-to-school spending will decrease by 4.7 percent compared with 2018, per the NRF. However, the drop could be explained by the particularly strong 2017 shopping season, where spending reached a seven-year peak of $29.5 billion. The average mean spending between 2013 and 2019 was $26.9 billion.... Read More
August 2, 2019 – Software and Hardware Cause Dip in May 2019 Games Spending
In May 2019, U.S. video game spending across hardware, software, accessories, and game cards totaled 641 million, 11 percent lower than last year. Total May 2019 spending on accessories and game cards was flat when compared to a year ago, at $230 million. Declines in both software and hardware spending drove overall performance downward. In addition, total dollar sales of new releases were the lowest for new releases in a may month since May 1998. Click here to read more.... Read More
July 31, 2019 – 3 Ways to Win Over the Thrifty Gen Z Consumer
Straddling adolescence and adulthood, Gen Z is at a turning point. The oldest members of Gen Z have already graduated college and are now in their early 20s. Considered a thrifty generation, Gen Z has posed a challenge to key general merchandise industries, which have struggled to drive dollar growth among this cohort over the past two years. Gen Z accounts for 27 percent of the U.S. population. That means when these consumers enter the workforce,... Read More
July 29, 2019 – More Than Half of US Shoppers Will Abandon a Brand Following a Bad Experience
Marketers and business leaders often prioritize customer service initiatives that don’t always align with the needs of the customer. But to keep consumers coming back, it’s more important than ever for marketers to bridge this gap by focusing on what customers really want—a responsive, streamlined shopping experience. More than half (55%) of US shoppers said that just one bad experience would stop them from returning to a brand, according to a July 2019 survey from alternative payments provider Klarna.... Read More
July 29, 2019 – Record Labels Have a New Target: Streamers and Gamers
On a quiet street in Vancouver, Canada, independent EDM record label Monstercat is carving out a solution to a problem that has plagued gamers and content creators for more than a decade: can streaming culture and the music industry coexist in a world where algorithms are used to track down unlicensed tunes, strip audio from videos, and dole out bans to streamers? Gavin Johnson, head of gaming at Monstercat, believes there can be a middle ground.... Read More
July 25, 2019 – 39% of US Broadband Households Own a Streaming Media Player
Parks Associates announced new research this week showing 39 percent of US broadband households own a streaming media player, a mere one percent increase over 2018, indicating ownership has flattened, although purchase intentions are higher for 2019 compared to previous years. 360 Deep Dive: Adoption and Use of Connected Video Devices notes connected video device manufacturers may need to shift focus from hardware sales to service and advertising revenue, as ownership reaches saturation. Click here to read more.... Read More
July 24, 2019 – More Research Shows that Consumers May Not Always Want Personalized Marketing Experiences
Many marketers may want to believe that customers prefer personalized marketing experiences, but while research backs up that claim, recent consumer skepticism over the use of personal data means that there’s a growing sentiment that more personalization does not beget a better experience. “Marketers, especially digital marketers, love data and the promise of optimization it holds,” said Nicole Perrin, principal analyst at eMarketer. “And many report a lift in engagement, conversions or other behaviors they’re trying to drive,... Read More
July 22, 2019 – Cannabis 2.0: Artists Hoping to Cash In On High-End Vaping Gear, the Next Big Thing in Legal Weed
Legalization democratized marijuana sales and took away some of the mystique of THC strains like Gelato, which has been name-checked by dozens of rappers, from Tyler the Creator to Jhene Aiko. Prior to legalization, acquiring an ounce of Gelato took connections, money and patience; now, anyone can buy it at a dispensary or Barneys New York, which now carries Sherbinskis at its Beverly Hills flagship. A recent study found a sharp rise in vape devices appearing in music videos,... Read More
