Zach Fuller

Thoughts On WMG's Acquisition of Spinnin Records

Zach Fuller

8 Sep 2017

acquisitions dance music Media

Warner Music Group has announced they will be acquiring Dutch Dance Label Spinnin Records for $100m. Whilst the label boasts some of the most popular names in Dance Music, such as Martin Garrix and Tiesto, much like the record Neymar transfer we discussed earlier this year , this is as much an inves...

Quick Take: Why Amazon and Microsoft Are Joining Forces on Voice

Zach Fuller

1 Sep 2017

Amazon Apple Facebook

Amazon and Microsoft have announced they will be collaborating around the Echo by allowing Microsoft’s Cortana service to be accessed through the voice control device. Whilst the move is not a direct merger between the company’s two respective voice assistants, it will now allow users commanding...

If Amazon Swallows Retail, Could Facebook Do the Same with Media?

Zach Fuller

25 Aug 2017

Amazon amazon advertising amazon media group

Former President and CEO of Netscape James L. Barksdale once said he knew of two ways to make money, ‘Bundling and Unbundling’. Whilst much of the focus has been on the unbundling factor of media, with consumers increasingly opting for more affordable SVOD services over cumbersome and expensive ...

Elvis Presley and the Two Recorded Music Industries

Zach Fuller

16 Aug 2017

elvis Presley legacy formats music subscribers

Today marks 40 years since the passing of Elvis Presley. Whilst ‘The King’s’ emergence has come to represent a cultural year zero for the music industry, his icon status in recent years has taken a hit.

Quick Take: Snap Inc’s Q2 Earnings

Zach Fuller

11 Aug 2017

Facebook Google Instagram

After much anticipation, Snap Inc has released its Q2 earnings outlining the company’s progress in the past three months. Of course, much of the attention has focused on missing growth and revenue targets, as Snap continues to feel the pressure of competition with Facebook and other messaging serv...

Neymar to PSG: The Collision of Peak Pay-TV and New Media Economics

Zach Fuller

4 Aug 2017

Sports

Reactions to Neymar Jr’s $260M move to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) are divisive. Many will bemoan it as a marker of how far football has gone from the days when the chasm between player and fan was less immense, back when my grandfather would drink with David O’Leary and co in North London after A...

Spotify at 60 Million Paid Subscribers: What’s Next?

Zach Fuller

2 Aug 2017

Spotify announced on August 1 thatit hadreached 60 million paid subscribers, just five months after the company hit 50 million. This ispositive news for the music streaming economy, but with a prospective IPO, Spotify will need to continue this growth trajectory expected of tech stocks by Wall Stree...

Bertelsmann and Penguin Random House: A Strategy Based on Extremes

Zach Fuller

24 Jul 2017

Bertelsmann BMG harper collins

Having created a next-gen music publisher in BMG, German media giant Bertlesmann are applying a similar strategy to their publishing division. Consistent with BMG’s tactic of investing heavily in legacy music publishing assets as well as niche Indie labels, Bertlesmann are doubling down on their m...

How Social Influences Impact Tech Innovation

Zach Fuller

21 Jul 2017

artificial intelligence ballooning flight

We know we cannot predict the future, yet the fortunes of investors and entrepreneurs continue to be made and lost in trying. Whether you are Nostradamus or a staff writer on Black Mirror , the future remains an amorphous misfit, forever teasing our understanding of how to prepare for its revelation...

Quick Take: An Echo Sales Spike on Prime Day Is Another Win For Amazon’s Burgeoning Service Business

Zach Fuller

14 Jul 2017

Amazon Amazon Echo Dot Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Echo revenues have until now remained relativelysmall. With the device still available in just three markets (US, UK and Germany), its main victories have been in its cultural impact, as well as spurring other tech majors (Alphabet and Apple) into the market away from their focus on other tec...

The Art of Windowing: Why 4:44 is a Different Kind of Exclusive

Zach Fuller

5 Jul 2017

4:44 Apple Music beyonce

For a brief moment last year, windowing seemed like the future of music streaming. Already common practice in the film-industry, the strategy was being touted as a way of utilising artist fan engagement to drive registrations (both freemium and paid) to streaming services, thus engendering the payme...

Thoughts On Second-Order Effects For Content Discovery in Voice

Zach Fuller

30 Jun 2017

Alexa Amazon Amazon Echo

Second-order effects are rarely considered when new technologies come to the fore and reach critical mass. For example, the realisation of smartphones, the emergence of Apple's app store and the ubiquity of Wi-Fi and cheap, effective data in mature digital markets means a service such as WhatsApp ma...

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Paid News
Legacy Titles and New Media Compete For Share Of Digital Voice

Zach Fuller

28 Jun 2017

Apple Amazon Google

In an economy based on attention, the monetisation of news in 2017 balances declining advertising revenues against a push towards building subscribers. Emerging business models and shifts in consumer behaviour are reshaping news monetisation and directly impacting the publishers of news content.

Is TPG’s Investment In Vice Overstating The Millennial Audience?

Zach Fuller

22 Jun 2017

mass media Media millennials

TPG's investment of $450m in Vice Media this week has valued the company at $5.7bn. CEO Shane Smith described the move as enabling the company he founded initially as a magazine in 90s Montreal to achieve the following: 'Build up the largest millennial video library around the world.

Quick Take: Amazon’s Whole Foods Acquisition Is A Major Coup For Voice Control Commerce

Zach Fuller

16 Jun 2017

acquisition Alexa Amazon

In the hours following the announcement of Amazon’s $13.7 billion acquisition of American supermarket chain Whole Foods, much of the immediate attention is currently focused on how the e-commerce giant will disrupt the food and grocery brick-and-mortar retail experience.

MIDiA at Midem 2017

Zach Fuller

11 Jun 2017

7 digital andy ng benji rogers

MIDiA Research were one of thousands of delegates who arrived in Cannes this week to attend Midem; the annual conference addressing the latest developments in the music industry. Across 4 days of panels, here are three points we found most insightful: Still no consensus on streaming : Perhaps predic...

Quick Take: Google Home Counters The Echo Threat By Introducing Payments

Zach Fuller

1 Jun 2017

Alexa Amazon Echo google assistant

Google have released a new Google Payment API with specific emphasis on voice capabilities. The service will allow Google Home device users to pay in-app or online with any verified credit or debit card saved to their Google account via products such as Google Play, Chrome and YouTube.

Why the Voice Control Landscape Will Be So Competitive

Zach Fuller

26 May 2017

AI Alexa Amazon

Withthe success of Prime and the Echo, Amazon at present is experiencing the same halo effect that graced Microsoft in the 90s and Apple in the 00s. Withtheir finger on the pulse of everything from entertainment (Manchester by-the-sea, American Gods) to drones, there appears to be a consensus that s...

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Voice Control
Market Strategy for the Next Major Hardware Paradigm

Zach Fuller

26 May 2017

Apple Marketing Amazon

Acting as a Trojan horse in consumer electronics, voice control slipped under the radar compared to more bombastic new technologies such as Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence, to quietly become a potential paradigm shift in the computer interface.

Vivendi-Havas: A Music Industry Perspective

Zach Fuller

18 May 2017

Access Industries acquisition dailymotion

After a quiet period in which music and media assets in general were perceived to be in irreversible decline, the narrative is suddenly changing. The boost in revenue from streaming and the allure of consistent income that comes with the transition to recurring subscription revenue seems to have pro...

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