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.
May 23, 2019 – Why the Music Industry is Betting on Biopics and Documentaries For its Next Revenue Burst
During the next year, some 11 biopics, biodocs — as in documentaries — and high-concept films about music artists and fabled eras of industry history are set to debut at theaters and on TV and streaming services, with at least another 14 screening that are at film festivals, looking for distributors or are in production or development. With a few exceptions, they all have licensed synch rights from music publishers, record labels or both. Although these projects will screen in the wake of Bohemian Rhapsody’s success — the film has grossed almost $1.1 billion globally,... Read More
May 20, 2019 – How Record Labels Are Selling Old Music for (Lots of) New Money
Ask someone in the music industry how to sell a new single, and you’ll get rambling answers that go on for days — but ask them how to sell a single that was released 25 years ago, from an artist who’s only ever put out one five-track LP and since faded deep into obscurity, and you’ll get far fewer ideas. Thanks to the discovery-led nature of music streaming, however, older music is, for the first time,... Read More
May 17, 2019 – How Music Discovery Works Today, and What Artists Can Do To Stand Out
There are a million ways to be heard, and for a new artist, that sounds promising. The combination of streaming and social media turned the music industry upside down, and one thing is for certain: there’s no right way to do things. A thousand other acts could try to replicate Lil Nas X’s come-up or follow Dominic Fike’s path, and it almost certainly wouldn’t work. At the end of the day, every artist has to figure out their own path,... Read More
May 4, 2019 – Why Streaming Is Reviving the Music Industry
After nearly two decades of disruption, the music industry is undergoing a massive revival. Artists, labels and publishers are cashing in on the growing popularity of streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music — and consumers are signing up for subscriptions like never before. Vulture forecasts music revenue to more than double to about $131 billion by 2030. Millennials and Generation Z are spending more of their annual budgets on music than other age groups. The proportion of people who stream music on their smartphones is growing in both developed and emerging markets.... Read More
April 25, 2019 – 2019 Record Store Day Yields Historic Week for Vinyl Album Sales
Record Store Day drove record-breaking music sales figures yet again, according to Nielsen Music. The 12th annual indie music retailer celebration, staged on April 13, helped yield 827,000 vinyl albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 18, according to Nielsen Music — a record for Record Store Day week, and the third-largest sales week for vinyl albums since Nielsen Music started tracking sales in 1991. The previous largest vinyl album sales haul for a Record Store Day week was 2018 with 733,000 sold in the week ending April 26.... Read More
April 24, 2019 – Smart Speakers: Why Your Voice is a Major Battle in Music
This year, the entire smart speaker market is predicted to reach a value of $7 billion according to Deloitte Global, making it the fastest growing connected device category in the world. In 2017, only 7 percent of Americans owned smart speakers, a figure that Nielsen says has risen to 24 percent. By 2022, Juniper Research expects that 55 percent of US households will own a smart speaker, which equates to around 175 million devices in 70 million homes.... Read More
April 23, 2019 – How Podcast Advertising Measures Up
The IAB expects podcast advertising to exceed $500 million in 2019, which represents growth of about 65 percent in just two years. For podcasters looking to attract advertisers, demonstrating proof of performance isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s quickly becoming a need-to-have. And while download metrics can help advertisers understand which podcasts are popular, they don’t tell brand managers anything about the impact their podcast ads have on customers. Advertisers of all types are getting serious about podcast advertising.... Read More
April 17, 2019 – $439 Billion to be Spent Worldwide on Consumer Entertainment by 2021
In 2017, global consumer expenditure on entertainment content (video, games and music) worldwide continued to climb. By 2021, this spend is set to reach US $439 billion globally, a 17 percent increase from 2017, according to the latest Global Entertainment Content Outlook report from Futuresource Consulting. “As expected, TV and Video account for the lion’s share of this consumer spend,” comments author Tristan Veale, Market Analyst at Futuresource Consulting. “However, music has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years and continued innovations within gaming means that both markets are impacting on consumers’... Read More
April 15, 2019 – More Millennials Buy Online, But In-Store Still Plays Role in Path to Purchase
Millennials have long been omnichannel shoppers, but their preference for digital channels is growing alongside the rise of D2C brands and mcommerce. When US millennials were asked about their shopping preferences, the largest share — 39 percent — said they liked to browse and buy online. That was up from 30 percent in 2017, with smaller increases in the share of millennials who preferred to buy online after browsing multiple channels, and those who preferred to buy online after browsing in-store.... Read More
April 12, 2019 – “Old Town Road” Proves TikTok Can Launch a Hit Song
Montero “Lil Nas X” Hill’s parents were concerned when their son dropped out of college eight months ago to pursue a career in rap; as the country trap star told Time Magazine, his parents succinctly pointed out there are millions of rappers already crowding the scene. Hill didn’t listen. He had to compete with up-and-coming rappers on streaming services like SoundCloud and Spotify, but Hill had a secret card up his sleeve — a meme and TikTok.... Read More
