Blog: music consumption

Oh how the tables have turned. Just a few months removed from its very public clash with Universal Music Group over music licences, TikTok is reportedly looking to buy up music rights of its own. Not only would this ease TikTok’s reliance on licences, but it would also presumably allow TikTok to prioritise its owned content in the algorithm, and do what music executives have been tearing their hair out trying to for years: reverse-engineer viral moments.

Released over the weekend after much delay, Drake’s More Life project is setting records across the board on streaming platforms. The Canadian artist described More Life as ‘a body of work bridging the gap between major releases’ and positioned the release as neither a mixtape nor an album, but rather ‘a playlist’.

Although the relatively early stage of development of the streaming market means that most listening habits are not yet being changed, there are fundamental shifts emerging among streamers and subscribers that point to the future of music consumption: Subscribers are fickle listeners: 58% of subscribers report listening to individual albums and tracks just a few times while 60% are doing this more than they used to because they are discovering so much new music.