Blog: Ad Supported

The long-awaited podcast subscription service, Luminary Media, went live on 23rd April 2019. The service has raised $100 million from investors with the aim of distributing ad-free exclusive podcast content to users for $8 per month.

Amazon is reportedly close to launching an ad supported streaming music offering .  Spotify’s stock price took an instant tumble. But the real story here is much bigger than the knee-jerk reactions of Spotify investors.

Firstly, happy new year to you all. Now on to the first post of 2019. The Article 13 debate that shaped so much of the latter part of 2018 will continue to play an important role throughout 2019 while European and then national legislators deliberate on the provision and the wider Digital Copyright Directive of which it forms a part.

[If this was Medium, it would say ‘long read’ – you’ve been warned] I do not normally add disclaimers or qualifiers at the start of blog posts, but given how divisive the whole Article 13 debate has become, there is a big risk that some readers will make incorrect assumptions about my position on Article 13.

Amazon’s latest play into the TV ad market with the launch of Free Dive, an ad-supported video service for Fire TV users, showcases the company’s intent to further diversify revenue streams from its video services, pushing into advertising video on demand (AVOD).

Facebook has announced its long mooted move into music. As widely anticipated the service offering focuses on using music to add context to social experiences. The official blog outlines two key use cases: Adding music to videosDoing live stream lip syncs in Facebook Live videos For now the roll out is limited, which will give Facebook the opportunity to hone the service and learn from the behaviour of a relatively narrow user group.

In 2014 YouTube launched its inaugural music subscription service YouTube Music Key in beta. The following year YouTube announced it was closing it ahead of the launch of YouTube Red , a multi-format subscription video on demand (SVOD) offering, of which music was going to be sub-component.

Spotify just filed its F1 for its DPO. The most anticipated business event in the recorded music industry since, well…as long as most can remember, is one big step closer. The filing is a treasure trove of data and metrics, and while there won’t be too many surprisesfor anyone who follows the company closely, there are nonetheless a lot of very interesting findings and themes.

In 2016, YouTube finds itself in yet another spat with rights holders and this time the labels have brought artists to the battlefield. Playing a starring role is the issue of Safe Harbour, the provision defined in the nearly two-decades-old Digital Millennium Copyright Act that recuses YouTube from liability for User Generated Content (UGC) uploads.

Australian streaming music service Guvera has announced its long-anticipated IPO on Australia’s ASX exchange in July. Guvera has always been an intriguing component of the digital music landscape. On the surface it has been pioneering music streaming in emerging markets where the big western services have failed to make inroads.

Spending money on recorded music has become a lifestyle choice, an honesty box for the conscientious consumer. No one really needs to pay for music anymore. That much is familiar to most, but what is new is that it is now manifesting itself in a new worrying way.