Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

What measures an artist's success in today's music industry?

Cover image for What measures an artist's success in today's music industry?
Keith Jopling
Strategy
Media
Streaming Music
It’s that time of year again for lists. Endless top albums and song rankings that can be a bonus for a music artist to be included on. A placement on an influential list (which ones those are is more of a debate these days, but let’s say Pitchfork for example, or Rolling Stone, or perhaps Fader or Pigeons & Planes if you are a hip hop artist) might just get you a few more curious eyeballs on socials and a few more streams.
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English Premiership Rugby gets set for a digital shake-up

Cover image for English Premiership Rugby gets set for a digital shake-up
Alistair Taylor
English Premiership Rugby
Amazon
tech major
Tech major Amazon is reportedly looking to add to its burgeoning sports right portfolio, targeting the domestic broadcast rights for English Premiership Rugby. London Irish owner, Mick Crossan, confirmed the giant’s entry into the tender process to the Mail on Sunday , following Amazon’s experiment with live streaming rugby after its acquisition and £20 million lifeline for the exclusive UK broadcast rights to last months’ inaugural Autumn Nations Cup .
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Global independent label survey

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Mark Mulligan
Music
MIDiA Research is conducting a major study of independent label revenue in order to create a definitive review of the independent sector’s contribution to the global music market. MIDiA conducted this work for a number of years on behalf of the Worldwide Independent Network and is now independently creating a dataset for 2020.
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Discovery enters streaming race with discovery+ and Olympics offering

Cover image for Discovery enters streaming race with discovery+ and Olympics offering
Alistair Taylor
Discovery
Eurosport
discovery+
Last week , Discovery announced it will launch discovery+, ‘the definitive non-fiction’ subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD), on January 4th, 2021. Consumers in the US can expect the largest-ever content library for a new streaming service from launch, with more than 55,000 episodes from Discovery’s iconic brands such as the BBC’s Natural History collection, A&E Networks, Group Nine and more.
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Pandemic boom fuels creator tools growth

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Dara Jegede
Music
- A new generation of artists is engendering a new creative paradigm, where production is far more central to the creative process and artists are able to make and release high-quality music more quickly than ever - SAAS-based creator tools are becoming the new ‘top of funnel’ for the music industry, establishing meaningful relationships with creators before they even release LONDON—November 30, 2020: A fast-growing wave of creator tools companies are meeting the needs of a new generation of artists with innovative and intuitive music production solutions.
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Time to move beyond the song economy

Cover image for Time to move beyond the song economy
Mark Mulligan
Music
The UK parliament is currently running an inquiry into the streaming music economy, having called for evidence from across the music business. Earlier this week were the first verbal submissions, from a number of UK artists including Tom Gray (Gomez), Guy Garvey (Elbow), Ed O’Brien (Radiohead) and Nadine Shah.
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Social media propositions are competing by homogenising?

Cover image for Social media propositions are competing by homogenising?
Hanna Kahlert
Media and Marketing
‘Tis the season for new social media layouts, it seems. Recently, Instagram has introduced a new layout featuring a combined Reels/Stories tab and a shopping tab; Twitter has rolled out its own form of stories, called “Fleets” (get it? Because they’re fleeting?) and Snapchat has, directly in the wake of its Voisey acquisition , launched TikTok-esque Spotlight , sponsored by creators.
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